On Monday, the UN Security Council demanded an immediate ceasefire for the first time as well as the release of all hostages. Of the 252 hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack, 130 remain unaccounted for following a series of releases, rescues and the recovery of bodies. At least 30 hostages are presumed dead.
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Then on Tuesday night, relatives of an Israeli held captive in Gaza were reportedly among those arrested by police at a protest in Tel Aviv, after the latest talks on a truce and the release of hostages broke down. Israel said that Hamas’s rejection of a current proposal for a Gaza truce deal is proof of the “damage” done by the UN Security Council resolution.
On Wednesday, relatives of an Israeli held captive in Gaza were reportedly among protesters arrested by police in Tel Aviv, after the latest talks on a ceasefire and exchange of prisoners and hostages broke down. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid commented on X that the state "should show much more compassion and sensitivity to the families of the hostages".
Over the six months of war in Gaza — and six months without their loved ones — family members of the Israeli hostages have spoken to the media, notably in the U.S. and in Italy, hoping to make their voices heard. Here are some of those voices.
"We need to stop Hamas"
"We need to stop Hamas, the terrorist that attacked Israel, kidnapped people, tortured people, murdered people," Yair Glick, cousin of a Israeli hostage, said in an interview with PBS "Newshour." "We need to force them to give all the people back. We cannot let these terrorists to get what they want and what they did it for."
Israel must pursue the war "that we are winning," Glick said with a sort of pride; Israel must not stop fighting, even with the hostage situation at the center of the debate.
When asked about their release, Glick said he believes the government "should be doing its job," which is to return as many of them as quickly as possible. The uncertainty of how many of them are still alive is what should make it quick.
"Hamas is a threat to everyone"
Numbers are not reliable. Nadav Kipnis, son of two Italian-Israeli hostages killed in November, said he received confirmation of their deaths days after their murder and probably only because he had asked the Italian government for help.
"Hamas is not only a threat to Israel. Hamas is attacking Israel right now because it is the closest target, but Hamas is not only attacking Israel," Kipnis told a reporter. "They are waging war against anyone who does not share their ideals. Right now, it is Israel and Jews. But we also saw attacks in Europe, France and Brussels by people who supported Hamas ideologies. We have to start seeing Hamas as a threat to everyone, not just Israel, and we have to try to stop them."
"I am against the ceasefire"
Yossi Schneider, a relative of Israeli hostages in Gaza, shares that opinion and therefore wants the war to continue — even if that means having to wait for his family's freedom.
"I am against the ceasefire, even if it might guarantee the release of some hostages because it would mean giving Hamas a chance to survive longer," he told Italian daily newspaper La Stampa.
"I stopped considering Palestinians in Gaza civilians."
"This is not a war between states; we are not talking about a prisoner exchange. My grandchildren are not prisoners of war; they are abducted children. You don't win by talking to those who took them from us. You win by starving them. So I don't want a ceasefire, I want Hamas to come out of the tunnels and kneel down in front of us begging us to stop and begging us to hand over the people who are still alive and the bodies of the dead."
Schneider's words are stark but full of conviction. Asked if he knew that not allowing a ceasefire would mean aggravating the already tragic situation of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, he responded simply: "I stopped considering them civilians."
"I don't want to let hatred win"
In November last year, French actress, screenwriter, film director and singer Agnès Jaoui gave an interview to Le Parisien, in which she revealed that five close cousins, on her father's side, were among the hostages: a 13-year-old girl named Noya Dan and her 80-year-old grandmother were killed; three other members of his family aged 12, 16 and 53 were also kidnapped. Jaoui described her "infinite sadness" while calling for peace: “The Palestinians are also dying and their homes are being destroyed [...] For now, we are all losers in this, but I don't want to let hatred win.”
As Voici notes, the 12- and 16-year-old members of her family have now been released, but Ofer Kalderon, 53, is still held hostage. Invited in early March on French TV, a tearful Jaoui commented on the situation, this time in more critical terms vis-à-vis Israel's actions:
"At the head [of the state of Israel] there is a government, which is guilty. I hope that it will held accountable for what it has done and what it is doing. The Israelis feel unloved by the whole world, at the same time what is happening in Gaza is unbearable ... But of course, the hostages are still there."