On Saturday, families of the hostages held in Gaza gathered at the Begin Center in Tel Aviv to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an immediate end to the war.
Vicky Cohen, mother of Nimrod Cohen, who remains in captivity, criticized Netanyahu's approach to the 59 hostages still held in Gaza.
"Instead of ending the war and bringing everyone home at once, Netanyahu is conducting a false public relations campaign to justify the military pressure," she said. “While hostages are enduring a Holocaust and drinking water from toilets in captivity, Netanyahu is enjoying a luxury vacation in Europe,” Cohen said. “But the military pressure has already killed 41 hostages. Netanyahu, go home, let the hostages come home.”
Merav Svirsky, who lost both her parents in the October 7 massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri and whose brother Itay Svirsky was murdered in Hamas captivity, echoed these calls. “This week, the tip of the iceberg of the foreign interests that control Netanyahu’s office and the state, and which led to the thwarting of the return of the hostages, began to be revealed,” she said. She accused Netanyahu’s government of conducting an influence campaign to rehabilitate Qatar’s image at the expense of Egypt’s, sabotaging potential deals for the hostages’ release.
“Hamas has announced that half of the hostages are being held in places where strikes are planned. Netanyahu is working to save himself instead of saving the hostages—Netanyahu, go home.”
Svirsky questioned why Netanyahu broke up the second phase of the deal and why the cabinet didn’t discuss an Egyptian proposal to end the war and return the hostages. “Netanyahu is working to save himself instead of saving the hostages! Netanyahu, go home! Return the hostages—and you go home! This is what will save us all,” she said.
Yifat Calderon, cousin of Ofer Calderon—recently freed from captivity—addressed the international community directly, ahead of Netanyahu’s meeting with President Donald Trump. “We are addressing the President of the United States from here—Netanyahu is lying when he says that military pressure will bring back the hostages. The only way to return all the hostages quickly is by ending the war and bringing everyone back in one go,” she said.
Omri Lifshitz, son of Oded Lifshitz, who was murdered while held by Hamas, spoke of the trauma endured by those who survived captivity. “Instead of focusing on recovery and rehabilitation, the brave and heroic survivors of captivity are forced to tell of the horrors they went through to save their friends left behind,” he said. “The picture being revealed is unimaginable: deliberate starvation, torture, abuse, injuries, diseases, disabilities—when will it end?”
He added, “The Prime Minister of the Jewish state is responsible for the fact that instead of ‘never again’—Jews are enduring a Holocaust time and time again! It is not only the hostages who are being tortured by the cruel captors. Netanyahu and his government are torturing all of us. Netanyahu is torturing the hostages, their families, the soldiers, and the entire public!”
This article was translated from Hebrew by Marina Levy.
