It has been practically 10 months since Aviva Siegel was free of captivity in Gaza, however her ideas stay within the Palestinian territory the place her husband Keith remains to be held by Hamas.
Siegel is one in all a gaggle of hostages launched throughout a short truce within the Israel-Hamas conflict final yr who now pine for the family members they left behind — and fear about what stalled truce talks imply for his or her destiny.
“I am nonetheless in Gaza, I have not left but,” Siegel advised AFP, describing her psychological state.
“I am with Keith in spirit always. I can not bear to think about that he and the opposite hostages are 40 metres (130 ft) under floor, with out air to breathe, with out meals to eat, with out something good.”
Aviva and Keith had been seized from kibbutz Kfar Aza close to the border with Gaza throughout Hamas’s unprecedented assault on October 7, two of the 251 hostages kidnapped to the Palestinian territory that day.
The week-long truce final November noticed Palestinian militants launched 105 hostages seized on October 7, the Israelis amongst them in trade for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Siegel grew to become one of many first to inform her story publicly after returning to Israel.
“I needed to die so many occasions,” she advised AFP, her voice shaking on the reminiscence.
“After I received out, I had misplaced 10 kilos (22 kilos). I might barely stroll, eat or drink. I do not need to think about the scenario Keith is in.”
Of the hostages seized on October 7, 97 are nonetheless held in Gaza, together with 33 the Israeli navy says are useless.
– ‘Sick of burying hostages’ –
Shortly after her liberation, Siegel started attending weekly protests held within the Israeli industrial hub of Tel Aviv, calling for a truce deal that may permit for the return of the remaining hostages.
These protests have solely grown as organisers attempt to ramp up stress on the federal government to seal a deal.
The Israeli military’s announcement that it had recovered the our bodies of six hostages from a Gaza tunnel in late August has made a breakthrough all of the extra pressing, Siegel stated.
“Keith remains to be there,” she advised AFP at one of many latest protests.
“We now have to get them out. It is too merciless… It is insufferable and unforgivable.”
Like Siegel, Raz Ben Ami was freed in the course of the November truce and is now hoping for the discharge of her husband, Ohad Ben Ami, 55.
She too has taken to the streets to demand progress in the direction of a deal, talking at one latest rally whereas sporting a t-shirt bearing her husband’s {photograph}.
“I am sick of my authorities that does not do sufficient to carry again the hostages.. sick of this nightmare that takes me again to Gaza day-after-day,” she stated.
“I am sick of burying hostages, returned in coffins.”
– ‘I favor to hope’ –
One other common on the Tel Aviv protests is Bat-Sheva Yahalomi, marching with an image of her husband Ohad Yahalomi, who was captured on October 7 from their dwelling in kibbutz Nir Oz together with their 12-year-old son Eitan.
Bat-Sheva cannot cease excited about the final time they noticed one another, earlier than armed males took her and the kids away from Ohad, who lay on the ground wounded in an trade of fireplace after making an attempt to guard the household.
“I feel the very last thing he noticed was our kidnapping, and he most likely does not know what occurred to us,” she stated.
Bat-Sheva and her two daughters managed to flee after they fell from their captor’s bike.
Eitan was launched within the November truce after 52 days in Gaza.
However Ohad’s continued captivity means “it is nonetheless October 7” for Bat-Sheva, a French-Israeli joint citizen.
“What breaks me is hopelessness, the concept that (the hostages) lose hope and do not suppose they will be rescued,” she stated from her new dwelling in a kibbutz in central Israel.
On her fridge, alongside footage from happier days, hangs a picture of her husband with the phrases “Convey them dwelling”.
When the kids ask the place their father is, Bat-Sheva says she tells them “the reality” but additionally works to maintain their spirits up — in addition to her personal.
“I do not know however I favor to hope that he is alive,” she stated.
