For Jonathan Dekel-Chen, daily this week has been a mix of pleasure and grief. He’s celebrating the return of his son Sagui, who was launched over the weekend as a part of the cease-fire take care of Hamas. However reminders of Sagui’s ordeal, and the torments of the remaining hostages, are not possible to flee.
“Immediately is a day with very combined emotions,” Mr. Dekel-Chen mentioned in an interview on Thursday.
He had simply visited his son in a Tel Aviv-area hospital on a day when Hamas turned over coffins that had been mentioned to include the stays of 4 of Mr. Dekel-Chen’s neighbors in Kibbutz Nir Oz, the place a couple of quarter of the 400 residents had been both killed or taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023.
It has been 504 days for the reason that Hamas-led assault, and roughly 60 hostages have but to come back residence. “We have to double down now on getting all of the hostages residence,” Mr. Dekel-Chen mentioned. The 4 our bodies returned on Thursday had been mentioned to incorporate three members of the Bibas household — Ariel Bibas, 4, and Kfir Bibas, who was simply 10 months previous, and their mom, Shiri Bibas. The Bibases got here to represent the plight of the captives after movies of them being taken to Gaza went viral.
However early Friday, the Israeli army introduced that the stays in what was mentioned to be Ms. Bibas’s coffin didn’t match the id of any of the hostages. “It is a violation of utmost severity,” the army mentioned.
The authorities did verify the youngsters’s stays, and people of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was killed in captivity by the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in keeping with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace.
Mr. Lifshitz, a retired journalist, was captured together with his wife, Yocheved Lifshitz, who was launched weeks into the conflict for what Hamas known as “humanitarian and health reasons.”
She has described abuse and harrowing situations in Hamas’s underground tunnels, warning that different hostages would not be able to endure them.
Earlier than the conflict, Mr. Lifshitz volunteered to drive Gazans in search of medical remedy to hospitals in Israel and was a founding member of a department of Peace Now, a gaggle advocating a two-state answer to the Israeli-Palestinian battle. Mr. Dekel-Chen, who was associates with Mr. Lifshitz for many years, mentioned he “was a person really dedicated to his values.”
1000’s of Israelis paid tribute to Mr. Lifshitz and the opposite hostages throughout a Thursday evening rally in what has turn into often called Hostage Sq. in Tel Aviv. They had been additionally there to stress the Israeli authorities to safe the discharge of these nonetheless being held.
Rally audio system demanded that the Netanyahu authorities not let the cease-fire crumble. The primary section of the settlement between Israel and Hamas took impact in January and is ready to finish in lower than two weeks. Negotiations on the second section have been delayed, leaving the fates of dozens of captives up within the air.
The delicate truce has led to the discharge of hostages from Gaza in change for Palestinians held in Israeli jails — however there are issues among the many kinfolk of hostages that there might not be one other spherical of releases.
Yael Adar, whose son Tamir Adar was killed within the assault on Kibbutz Nir Oz and whose physique has not been returned from Gaza, spoke on the Thursday rally. She mentioned that when Tamir’s son heard that our bodies can be returned to Israel this week, he requested if his father can be coming residence.
“We informed him no, not at this stage. Asaf couldn’t perceive why there have been levels,” she mentioned.
Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned has mentioned that six residing hostages can be launched on Saturday, as an alternative of three as deliberate, and that 4 extra our bodies can be returned subsequent week.
However kinfolk are anxious.
Hamas’s failure to return Ms. Bibas raises new questions on whether or not the subsequent launch of hostages and prisoners on Saturday will proceed and the destiny of talks on the second section of the cease-fire deal.
If negotiations on the second section fail, roughly 60 hostages, some believed to be lifeless, would probably stay in Gaza. And if combating resumes, those that are alive can be in even graver hazard.
On Monday, a rally in Hostage Sq. was held to mark the five hundredth day of captivity for these being held in Gaza.
Among the many audio system was Yeela David, the sister of Evyatar David, who was taken from the Nova music competition throughout the Oct. 7 assault. “Section 2 is the final probability to avoid wasting the lives of dozens,” she mentioned. “If this deal falls aside and Section 2 doesn’t start, it should stay a black stain within the pages of our historical past.”
The hostages which have been freed say there is no such thing as a time to spare.
Keith Siegel’s spouse drove that time residence throughout the Monday rally at Hostage Sq.. Mr. Siegel was held in Gaza for almost 500 days, six months of which had been spent locked in a small room alone. He was crushed, threatened at gunpoint and decreased by his captors to “nothing,” within the phrases of his spouse, Aviva.
He ate solely moldy pita bread, misplaced 65 kilos and a few days thought he wouldn’t survive, Ms. Siegel mentioned, describing particulars of her husband’s expertise for the primary time.
“He went by means of 484 days of hell no human being ought to ever need to expertise,” mentioned Ms. Siegel, who was additionally taken hostage. She was launched throughout a short truce in November 2023. “I used to be in Gaza. I survived. Keith survived. Others is not going to,” Ms. Siegel warned.
It was a theme repeated by different former captives, together with Iair Horn, 46, who was freed on Saturday together with two different hostages in change for 369 Palestinian prisoners.
He appeared in a video message on the Monday rally, recorded about 48 hours after his return to Israel, to plead for his brother, Eitan Horn, who was nonetheless in Gaza and was not slated to be freed within the first section of the settlement.
“I used to be there. I used to be in Hamas’s tunnels. I skilled it firsthand,” Iair Horn mentioned. “And I’m telling you, the hostages don’t have time. They have to be introduced again now.”
Since his return, he mentioned, folks stored asking what he wants. “I reply them, ‘I would like just one factor: Convey again my brother. Convey again my brother and all of the hostages.’”
