sAfter being released from Hamas prisoners and dealt with news that his wife, Einab, was killed during the militant attack on October 7, 2023, Levy told the crowd he insisted on the Hostage Square in Tel Aviv. After processing the news, family members and doctors allow him to come to the frail frail.
Israelis were forced to read the statement lined up on the Gaza city stage last Saturday, shocked by the gaunt look of 34-year-old Eli Sharabi and 56-year-old Ohad Ben Ami (52). I was accepted and angry. Red Cross. After nearly 500 days of confinement, all three appeared to be struggling to see in the sunlight, weak enough to have had to help armed fighters walk.
“It was important to me to understand everything you did and keep doing it… I really feel that you all contributed to what you gave me my life.” Levy told the Tel Aviv crowd on Friday.
“I might be here, but there are still many brothers and sisters in Gaza hell and their time is running out.”
The three men appear to be more frail than the 13 Israelis and the five Thai citizens previously released in the ceasefire of the Gaza War, and if Hamas first releases his healthiest prisoners, he returns to the next It creates fear of worse shape. For many of the Israeli masses there is a new sense of urgency that the remaining hostages must be brought home as soon as possible.
Niva Wenkart, whose 23-year-old son Omer is to be released in the first 42 days of the armistice, saw the condition of the three men released last week in Reuters on Friday, but He said it was something like that. “I'm worried that Omar's life will be at risk every minute and every second,” she said.
Details about how the Israelis were released in the first four weeks of the ceasefire were added to the uneases felt by hostage families and supporters.
Some former hostages who spent several months in Hamas underground tunnels are only given three dates or half pita bread a day, sharing half liters of water among several people. I said that. Accounts shared by Israeli media families suggest that many people are regularly beaten, abused, starved and chained.
Ran Gilboa, father of liberated soldier Daniela Gilboa, 20, told Israel's daily Yedio Afronos this week: She hovered between life and death for two weeks due to a severe bacterial gastric infection. They had no choice but to eat donkey feed. ”
The hostage story is increasing the public's pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu fears that losing his job will make him more vulnerable to corruption charges and that he must prioritize the survival of his government over hostage trade, Netanyahu widely believes It is being done.
The latest weekly polls from the Ma'ariv newspaper showed that Netanyahu's Likud Party has lost its seats. This is a shift commentator that is attributed to the physical states of Ben Ami, Levi and Sharabi at the time of release. However, public opinion is not a determinant of success in a ceasefire, according to Mairav Zonszein, a senior Israeli analyst at international crisis group Thinktank.
“The way hostages can be seen accelerates the public pressure to drive them out faster, but it's always there. If they come out in poor condition, it looks bad for Netanyahu. But getting them out is the best he can do in terms of what the public thinks,” she said.
“Netanyahu wants to go back to war, as he and his partner have promised a fundamental, perfect victory over Hamas and the military solution, but he doesn't want to see the deal hurt. The momentum of the release is difficult to stop unless there is a true, clear violation by Hamas.”
Earlier in the week after Hamas said he would suspend scheduled releases of three more hostages this weekend, unless there is suspected of Israeli violations, including the continued killing of Palestinians in Gaza. , the ceasefire appeared to be at risk of collapse. In response, Israel threatened to resume the war, and Donald Trump inflamed the crisis this weekend by demanding the group release all remaining hostages.
By Friday, mediators appear to have recovered the deal, and said Palestinian Islamic jihad, a small Hamas alliance, would release the three men as planned. Another eight living hostages are scheduled to be released in the first 42 days of the ceasefire, with the remaining 68 being set to return in Phase 2.
The future of the deal is still uncertain, Zonszein said, as the Israeli government doesn't want to commit to phase two.
“I think Vivi and Trump are continuing to try and restructure the conditions. Using Netanyahu's famous moniker, she said, “In the end, hostages are Vivi's secondary priorities. ”
