A searing Knesset session saw survivors and families of hostages accuse Israel’s leadership of catastrophic neglect, revealing harrowing torture, destroyed communities, and military blunders that led to mass abductions.
In a stormy session of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday, the raw wounds of Nir Oz were laid bare — and so was the anger. Chaired for the first time by MK Boaz Bismuth (Likud), the meeting turned into an emotional reckoning over the government’s handling of the haredi draft law and the war’s forgotten victims.
Released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz delivered a gut-wrenching testimony, accusing both the government and the army of abandoning Nir Oz to Hamas’s onslaught. “We were left at the mercy of terrorists for hours,” she said, describing brutal captivity where she lost a kilogram every two days under torture. Her voice shook as she revealed that 85% of Nir Oz was reduced to rubble, and one in four residents was killed or kidnapped.
Lifshitz saved her sharpest rebuke for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, blasting him for only visiting the kibbutz nearly two years after the attack. “As soon as he crossed the border, he forgot about us,” she said bitterly.
Her testimony was followed by Yotam Cohen, brother of abducted IDF soldier Nimrod Cohen, who revealed shocking details: Nimrod’s unit was sent to defend Nir Oz in a faulty tank that left them defenseless against the Hamas assault. “My brother has been held captive for nearly two years,” Yotam said, comparing his plight to fellow hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski.
The session underscored not only the anguish of hostage families but also growing public outrage over what many see as a chain of failures at the highest levels of Israel’s leadership. Calls for urgent action — and accountability — are now louder than ever.
