Six months to the day after the bloody Hamas attack, thousands of Israelis gathered this Sunday evening in Jerusalem in front of the Israeli Parliament to demand the release of the hostages still held by Hamas, chanting slogans like
“Alive and alive and not in coffins”
and
“All free, now! A deal now!”
. Agam Goldstein, 17, a hostage released during the week-long truce between Israel and Hamas at the end of November, took the stage to be
“the voice”
of those still in captivity.
“To you, who are still there, hold on
,” she said with tears in her eyes, evoking the memory of her father and sister killed on October 7 by Hamas commandos. Before her, women wearing a sticker on their mouths with the number 184 (the number of days since October 7) held up photos of the 14 women still in the hands of their captors.
Kfir, 1 year old, still hostage
Ofri Bibas, whose brother Yarden, sister-in-law Shiri and their two children Ariel, four years old, and Kfir, one year old, are among the hostages, spoke asking that
“we not forget them”
. Kfir Bibas is the youngest of around 250 hostages taken by Hamas on October 7. With his brother, they are the only two minors among the 129 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom Israel estimates that 34 are dead.
“We were abandoned on the 7th and we have been abandoned ever since
,” said Lishay Meran, mother of two children whose husband Omri is hostage.
Yet another series of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel via international mediators - United States, Qatar, Egypt - is to be held in Cairo where negotiators from the different parties have already arrived or are expected in the hope of finding an agreement for a ceasefire and the release of the hostages. Hamas and Israel accuse each other of obstructing these talks.
The war against Hamas in Gaza was launched by Israel after the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7. It led to the death of 1,170 people, mainly civilians, in Israel, according to an AFP count based on official data. In retaliation, Israel launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip which left more than 33,100 dead, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.