Recently freed Israeli hostages made emotional appeals yesterday in Tel Aviv for the return of the bodies of the hostages who are still in the Gaza Strip, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
“It is time to save everyone who remained in Gaza“, said Rom Braslavsky – one of the 20 hostages who returned to Israel on October 13 as part of the ceasefire agreement with the Palestinian group “Hamas“. "Even if it takes 20 or 30 years, we will continue to fight for everyone," he added.
Thousands of people gathered again in Tel Aviv's Hostage Square in the evening. According to the Forum of Families of Hostages and Missing Persons, five of the surviving hostages attended the event.
One of them, Nimrod Cohen, said he was convinced that "Hamas" knew exactly where the remains of the other hostages were. "Every day that passes is another day that one of them could disappear forever," the Times of Israel quoted him as saying.
Cohen said that while he was being held "in hell" of the Gaza tunnels, his captors kept telling him that "the Israelis have given up on us, that no one is coming out to protest and fight for us". But when he returned home, he realized that "all of that was a lie".
The ceasefire agreement reached in October obliges "Hamas" to hand over to Israel the remains of 28 killed hostages. Five of the bodies are still in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has pledged to hand over to local authorities the remains of 15 deceased Gazans for every body returned by "Hamas".
The cause of the war in Gaza was the attack carried out on October 7, 2023 by "Hamas" fighters and other groups in Israel, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping over 250 in the coastal area.