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Several families have said that they've received proof of their loved ones's status in captivity, marking a critical moment for a hostage deal that would bring the rest home.
By EVE YOUNG FEBRUARY 12, 2025 15:27 Updated: FEBRUARY 12, 2025 15:33
With an impending hostage deal, protestors outside the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv demand that the deal include all of the hostages, now held in captivity for over 450 days.
(photo credit: DANOR AHARON)
The families of numerous hostages have shared over the last few days that they have received information about their loved ones in captivity, with some receiving their first proof that their loved ones are alive.
Some of these signs of life have come from the freed hostages who returned in the past few weeks and were able to share information about other hostages held with them.
On Tuesday, the family of hostages Ziv and Gali Berman said that they had received the first signs that the two, taken from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, are alive in captivity.
The family of Alon Ohel, who just turned 24 in his second birthday in captivity, said on Sunday that they had been informed by recently released hostages that Alon is alive. This was also the first sign the family had received that he was alive.
The family of captive Omri Miran, taken from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, said on Tuesday that one of the recently released hostages told them he was with Omri in captivity until July.
Challenging rumors that hostages are dead
Yosef-Chaim Ohana's aunt told Ynet on Wednesday that the family had received "a clear indication" that Ohana is alive in captivity, although she did not specify when the family received this indication.
These signs of life, especially from those whose status in captivity was unclear with next to no information available about them, are important challenges to a public option widely held and often used as an argument against making a deal - that most of the hostages are dead.
It's hard to blame those who believed this narrative - the horrific scenes of October 7, the lack of information surrounding the status of hostages taken from the sites of violent massacres like the "death shelter" or the Nova festival, and the lack of regard for human life shown by Hamas terrorists through the murders of hostages, all appeared to support the idea that many of the hostages were likely dead.
The signs of life of the past few days, along with recent releases of hostages about whom almost nothing was known, have shown that, without a doubt, there are many living hostages in Gaza who can be saved and who are waiting to be saved.
Israel's policy and discussion surrounding the hostages must reflect this fact. The argument that the hostages are likely dead and that making difficult concessions as part of a deal is not justified can no longer hold any water.
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The signs of life also came with new evidence of what has long been known - the lives of the hostages are in real, immediate danger.
Hostages in peril
Ohel's family emphasized that they were shocked to hear the condition he was in in captivity - injured, bound in chains, and without enough food.
Ohana's aunt emphasized to Ynet that seeing the release of Ohad Ben Ami, Or Levy, and Eli Sharabi - who lost huge amounts of weight in captivity and whose appearance prompted Holocaust comparisons, was proof that the hostages did not have more time.
Released hostage Aviva Siegel was frustrated that in spite of her repeated warnings and months of advocacy in which she described the conditions of captivity, people were shocked by the condition of the released hostages, her daughter said.
The country's policy must also reflect this fact. We have been given horrible confirmation - the hostages do not have time to wait.
A failure to bring them home in the near term could very well be a failure to save their lives.
While the vast majority of Israelis support a hostage deal that would bring everyone home, Israelis will continue to be divided over the "price" the country can afford to pay for this deal.
Some 73% of respondents to a Jerusalem Post poll this week said that a deal must be completed and result in the return of all the hostages. At the same time, polls continue to show mixed responses to concessions Israel may be asked to make as part of a deal that would bring all the hostages home.
When the public has these conversations, the bare minimum they owe the hostages is the recognition that they are living human beings who can be saved and who currently are in constant, mortal danger.
When decision-makers explain their policies and decisions regarding hostage negotiations and the military actions that impact it, the bare minimum they owe the hostages and the public is the recognition that they know that the hostages are living, can be saved, and that they are running out of time.
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