Murdered hostage Yonatan Samerno would have turned 23 years old on Thursday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced Thursday. He was taken hostage by Hamas during the Re'im music festival massacre on October 7.
His family was notified that he was murdered in captivity in December, 2023.
In a statement from the forum, his family said, "We choose to commemorate this day as Yonatan would have wanted—by spreading love, through dancing, and with shared hope."
"In these difficult times, when it seems we may have forgotten what came before the events of October 7th, we ask everyone to focus on the unity of our entire people around the single overarching goal: Bringing home the 58 hostages who are still in Gaza. We must bring them back. All of them. So that we can all rise up, grow stronger, and live again in security, and so that we can return to dancing and celebrating."