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Demonstration in front of the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem on April 7th

Photo: Menahem Kahana / AFP

It has been exactly six months since Hamas took people into its power in the attack on October 7, 2023. Former hostages and relatives of the remaining abducted people want to remember this - and draw attention to their fate. The family members' organization had called for a rally in Jerusalem on Sunday evening. According to the organizers, around 50,000 people came and chanted to bring the hostages home.

Every morning was “another day in hell.”

“We are here counting the days,” said Agam Goldstein, who was taken from her home in Kfar Aza to the Gaza Strip with her mother and two younger brothers and released after 51 days. »I hope you don't count. That you don’t know how long you’ve been there.”

Goldstein said she wondered in what condition the hostages would return, given the portraits of the hostages projected on a large screen. »The photos all over the country and around the world show a different person. You don’t look the same anymore, you don’t smile the same anymore.”

19-year-old Itay Regev, who was kidnapped along with his sister Maya at the Nova music festival on October 7, described a life full of fear while held hostage. "We came back alive, but not safe." Every morning was a different day in hell. "The words 'music' and 'festival' have changed forever and are now the saddest words in the world that will always hurt."

Relatives of the hostages recalled the celebrations of the past six months that had to be celebrated without their loved ones. Now they hoped to return to the Seder meal of the upcoming Passover festival, one of the most important holidays in Judaism. This year it will be celebrated from April 22nd to 30th.

Almost 100 hostages still in Hamas captivity

In the massacre by Hamas and other extremist organizations on October 7, more than 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive. During a week-long ceasefire at the end of November, Hamas released 105 hostages. In return, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners from prisons. According to Israeli estimates, almost 100 of the hostages are still alive.

lph/dpa