In a gathering outside the Tel Aviv Municipality, hostage families made public appeals on Saturday for a negotiated agreement to secure the return of their loved ones, who are still held hostage by Hamas.
The statements, delivered in front of cameras and supporters, reflected growing anguish over the government’s handling of the hostage crisis and mounting fears for the captives’ survival.
Omri Lifshitz, son of the late Oded Lifshitz, who was kidnapped and later died in Hamas captivity, spoke of his father’s suffering and the painful void left behind. “My father was left to die in physical agony and died from lack of medical treatment,” he said.
“My mother, despite her age, and instead of rehabilitating her life, fights every day for the return of the kidnapped men and women. My mother and all the other returnees cannot rehabilitate themselves until they are all returned.”
Lifshitz emphasized that only a negotiated deal can bring the remaining hostages home alive. “The fate of those who still survive must not be the same as that of my father, who paid the price of abandonment,” he added.
'Netanyahu sold you lies'
Yehuda Cohen, the father of kidnapped soldier Nimrod Cohen, addressed former US President Donald Trump directly in a statement read on behalf of families of captured soldiers. “Increasing military pressure puts living kidnapped soldiers in danger of death, and dead kidnapped soldiers in danger of disappearance,” Cohen warned.
“Netanyahu sold you lies while the kidnapped soldiers were going through a Holocaust. You are the only one who can force Netanyahu to stop the war and bring everyone back.”
The protest also featured a plea from Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan has been held captive by Hamas for 561 days. She expressed frustration over the failure to secure a deal.
“Instead of a breakthrough that will free the kidnapped men and women, we are after another failure to initiate a deal,” she said. “Netanyahu refuses to end the war for his personal reasons and is burying the kidnapped in the tunnels.”
Tsengauker called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to provide clear answers to the hostages’ families. “Netanyahu, the families demand answers. If there is another selection deal, will my Matan be released together with the American soldier who is being held with him in the tunnel, or will he be left to die of loneliness and muscle atrophy?”
The families’ appeals come as hostage negotiations remain frozen, public pressure intensifies, and global attention grows regarding the fate of the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas.
With the war ongoing, the families are calling for concrete action.