Rescued hostage from "Operation Arnon," Andrey Kozlov spoke in English in a video released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum on Saturday night, saying, "There are still 120 hostages in Gaza, and I cannot be happy as long as they are there. I am asking you to bring them home and make a deal as soon as possible.
"Almost every Saturday, they showed us all rallies that took place in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I didn't count how many people were there, but I saw that there were many. I remember how Almog, for the first time, saw his picture, he said: 'It's me! It's me on the poster! It's me!' And for him, he started to breathe more freely, you know?"
Kozlov, 27, had recorded another video that was released the day before, where he urged the public to attend the rally in support of the hostages and their families at "Hostages Square" on Saturday.
"You spent a lot of time and a lot of power to bring us home, and that's one of the things that gave me hope. You are heroes, you are heroes!" he continued.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum organized a rally earlier on Saturday at Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, where they once again urged the government to accept any deal that would see the release of the remaining 120 hostages in Gaza as soon as possible.
Among their demands was to prepare a team that would negotiate a proposal to Hamas's answer, which also included a commitment to end the war as part of the deal to release the hostages. The family members of the remaining hostages also accused the government of abandoning their loved ones.
They state that a continuation of the war will increase the loss of life among both the hostages and the IDF soldiers operating in Gaza. Saturday saw the IDF announcing the deaths of eight IDF soldiers in Rafah.
"We have been informed of a tragic incident in which eight soldiers were killed. Eight families have now joined the bereaved families. Our hearts are broken, and we send our condolences to them," said Eyal Eshel, father of the late Roni Eshel - who was murdered on October 7 in Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
Einav, the mother of hostage Matan Tsengaoker, said that "although there are gaps in the hostage deal negotiations, they can be bridged. We demand the Israeli government take the initiative and close those gaps to close a deal immediately."
Yael Alon, an orphaned daughter from the Yom Kippur War and a bereaved mother from the current war with Hamas, said: "I have experienced the worst of everything in my flesh, twice, and I am here to scream and scream - No more!"
Another anti-government protest
Saturday night saw another large demonstration against the government in Tel Aviv, asking them to implement a hostage deal immediately. It started Democracy Square, and the protests will continue on Kaplan Street.
The organizers of the demonstrations estimate there will be anti-government protests in around 60 places throughout the country, with the largest one being in Tel Aviv. "Everything the government does is intended solely to serve its political survival - at any cost. Also at the expense of harming the security of the state," they said. Protests have already taken place in Haifa, Netanya, Herzilya, and Rehovot, Ynet reported.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that the demonstration at Hostages Square saw tens of thousands of people attending. Other reports said that there were about 160 thousand demonstrators protesting at the Azrieli intersection along Begin and Kaplan streets, calling for new elections.
Kozlov's father, Michael, said: "My son is now with his family, he is lucky. But there are still 120 people in captivity who need our help, the help of the State of Israel, the people of Israel, the government of Israel, and the whole world. Every day for them is a punishment, it's physical and mental abuse. I demand a deal now to release all those who are alive and to return all those who are not, so they can be buried in the State of Israel. Even though my son has returned, my heart is still in Gaza. I pray, ask, and demand to bring them all home."
Michal Lubnov, wife of hostage Alex Lubnov, said: "My Alex has been in hell for over eight months. So much time has passed, too many days, significant events, and countless moments that Alex had been missing, that Alex should have been there for. But there was one moment that Alex was not present: The birth of our second son. I gave birth without him. After spending most of the pregnancy alone, while Alex was being held by a terrorist organization.
"Our son Kai is already 3 and a half months old, and his father doesn't know him because his father has been in hell for 253 days. In what reality does this sound reasonable to anyone? What morally broken world allows this to happen? The world is celebrating Father's Day, and Alex doesn't even know he's a father to another son."
Other speakers at the demonstrations include Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, hi-tech entrepreneur and one of the leaders of the "Elections Now" protest Ami Dror, and Psychologist Dr. Nurit Flzenthal Berger, who is also the mother of a soldier in Gaza.
This smile of Netanyahu will bury his political career," Lapid said at the rally. "This smile will remove him from our lives. Nothing will be left behind.
"I am standing here, with a broken heart, on behalf of all of us, condolences and a strong hug to the families of the eight soldiers who were killed in Rafah," the opposition leader continued.