Families of hostages mark 18 months since October 7 massacre, demand all hostages released at once.
On Monday morning, families of hostages and activists gathered outside homes of ministers and decision-makers across Israel to mark eighteen months since the October 7 massacre. At more than ten locations throughout the country, they demanded the immediate return of 59 hostages still held in Hamas captivity.
Starting at 6:29 AM, participants read aloud the names of all 59 hostages. Near the Prime Minister’s residence, they held a prayer service and played recorded testimonies from former captives who survived Hamas imprisonment.
Varda Ben Baruch, grandmother of Edan Alexander, said: “A year and a half since October 7, there is a heavy, difficult feeling as if bringing our loved ones home has been pushed aside. Fifty-nine male and female hostages have not yet returned home to Israel. We stand here in front of the Prime Minister’s residence and say to you, Prime Minister – ‘In every generation, each person must see themselves as if they personally left Egypt.’ We say this in the Passover Haggadah. Now is your moment of truth. You are in the United States, and you need to sit with President Trump there and finalize a deal so everyone can come home. This is what we expect.”
All living women and children have been released. However, Hamas still holds the bodies of a few women. Gil Dickmann, cousin of the late Carmel Gat, added: “Forty-one hostages were murdered in captivity. We hear the Defense Minister saying that ‘we are not endangering the hostages.’ Defense Minister Katz – we are living testimony to the mortal danger facing the hostages – both the living and the deceased could be lost if you don’t act now.”
“President Trump – Please. It’s been a year and a half. There is only one word we can shout now – enough. Enough of this nightmare.”
Erez Adar, uncle of the late Tamir Adar, said, “I am here today because we are at a dead end – 59 people are in hell, with no end in sight, 59 people who should be Israel’s most burning issue have been pushed to the margins. We call on the Prime Minister from here – the hostages come first. All of them. In one phase. We must bring everyone back, the living for rehabilitation and the deceased for burial, so that there can be hope for a better future here.”
