Relatives of hostages removed during the attack on Hamas on October 7, 2023 in Israel and led to the Gaza Strip called for their release on Monday, during events organized in the country to mark the 500th day of captivity.
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Dozens of people paraded in Jerusalem by brandishing hostage portraits and the slogan “Bring them home now!” Some calling on the Israeli authorities to do more for the release of their loved ones.
They went to the private residence of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, before going to the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, where they were invited to meetings with parliamentarians.
Addressing elected officials, Einav Zangauker, whose matan son is hostage in Gaza, said he had “eyes burned by the tears that I have shed for 500 days”. A figurehead of the fight for the release of the hostages, Ms. Zangauker asked elected officials to “do everything to bring her son and the other hostages” alive “.
In early December, Hamas broadcast a video of his son, kidnapped with his partner in their Kibbutz Nir Oz house.
Shimon or, the uncle of Avinatan Gold, kidnapped at the Nova music festival, expressed his anger by saying that Hamas “would never make all the hostages”.
AFP
Fasting 500 minutes
The first phase of the truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which entered into force on January 19, has already led to the release of 19 Israeli hostages against 1134 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
A total of 33 hostages, from which eight died, must be given to Israel during this first phase which ended on March 1, in exchange for 1900 Palestinian detainees.
During another meeting at the Knesset, the president of the Parliamentary Commission for Education, the deputy Yossi Taieb (Shass, Ultra-Orthodox), said that the state of Israel had “leaving them from hell , this is our moral duty ”.
“Our brothers and sisters have been in captivity for 500 days, in hell, we think of them every moment,” added Mr. Taieb.
Other rallies to mark the 500th day of captivity must be held in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv during the day.
AFP
Dozens of relatives of hostages gathered in the premises of the Knesset, brandishing the portraits of the 70 hostages still retained in Gaza.
At the statement of each name, the people present have chanted “now!” Before singing the national anthem together, the Hatikva (hope).
The hostage families forum called on the population to observe a 500 -minute fast on Monday, just over eight hours, in “solidarity” with the hostages.
Recently released ex-hostages said they had lost dozens of kilos in captivity, describing a cruel lack of food and extremely difficult survival conditions.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who received Ohad Ben Ami residence on Monday, a recently released father from Gaza, said he wanted the return “at home as quickly as possible” of all hostages.
“On this 500th day, we must remind the world (…) the unimaginable suffering endured” by the hostages, he added, according to a press release.
AFP
The English Israeli daily newspaper The Jerusalem Post has a single big title on Monday, “500 days”, and a giant yellow ribbon, symbol of solidarity with the hostages, inside and around which are printed their names and surnames .
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), for its part, called for the “release of all hostages”, in a message on the social network X.