At a rally in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv that evening, recently released Hamas hostages made emotional speeches demanding the return of the remaining bodies. “It’s time to get everyone left behind in Gaza out,” said Rom Braslavski, one of 20 hostages released on October 13 as part of a ceasefire agreement. “Even if it takes 20 to 30 years, we will continue to fight for everyone.”
Thousands of people joined the rally on “Hostages’ Square”. According to the forum of the relatives of the hostages, there were also five surviving hostages. One of them, Nimrod Cohen, is convinced that Hamas knows exactly where the remains of the remaining hostages are. “Every day that passes is another day in which one of them could disappear forever,” the Times of Israel quoted him as saying.
When he went through “hell” in the tunnels of Gaza, his captors repeatedly said “that the Israeli people had given up on us. That no one would protest and fight for us,” said Cohen. But on the day he returned, he realized that it was all lies.
The brother of a slain hostage demanded at the rally that the ceasefire agreement be implemented. He came to the “Square of the Hostages” to demand the basic right to say goodbye to his brother Dror, whose body is still in Gaza – and to honor him, said Elad Or. “Israel needs Dror – all of them – at home.”
The hostages were held under cruel conditions – some for more than two years. After their release, some reported torture and other severe ill-treatment, starvation and poor sanitary conditions. As part of the ceasefire agreement, Israel has committed to handing over the remains of 15 killed Gazans to the authorities there for every body handed over by Hamas.
