Alon Ohel’s parents ask to meet Netanyahu, say hostage is losing sight, life in danger

The parents of hostage Alon Ohel urgently requested a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling him that their son is suffering life-threatening injuries and is on the brink of becoming blind, in a letter to the premier made public on Thursday.

Citing information received from hostages released earlier this year during the first stage of the ceasefire with Hamas, Idit and Kobi Ohel wrote to the prime minister that they fear for their son’s life and asked to meet with him to determine how to ensure his release.

“Hamas blatantly lied, they did not release all the humanitarian wounded, and thus violated the first phase of the agreement,” Ohel’s parents wrote, noting that Hamas was meant to release all captives in the humanitarian category, including wounded and sick hostages, as part of the first stage of the deal. “[Freed captives] Eli Sharabi and Or Levy say explicitly that Alon is on the brink of blindness and his life is very much in danger.”

Netanyahu called the parents on Friday, Channel 12 reported. While he told them he was aware of Ohel’s condition, he did not provide any optimism regarding the chances for a deal in the near future, the network said. It was unclear whether he had agreed to meet the couple in addition to the call.

The 33 Israeli hostages — only 25 of whom were alive — who were freed in January and February 2025 were drawn from a list provided by Israel to Hamas during early rounds of negotiations, and included women, the elderly, and those Israel knew had been wounded.

“The testimonies of Eli Sharabi and Or Levy are shocking, Hamas is blatantly lying,” Alon’s parents said in their letter. “We demand that any resumption of humanitarian and medical aid to the Gaza Strip is conditional on the captives being released from Hamas tunnels and receiving clear and supervised medical treatment that will save their lives.”

Israel halted aid to Gaza after Hamas refused to extend the first phase of the ceasefire deal by releasing more hostages. Last week, the military renewed operations in Gaza as the ceasefire collapsed, sparking fears among hostage families that their loved ones’ lives would be in increased danger.

The Ohel family whose son, Alon, featured in the poster, was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)

Last month, Idit Ohel told Channel 12 that Sharabi and Levy were held with her son for the duration of their captivity. Their return from Gaza in February was the first time that Ohel’s family received confirmation that he is still alive since he was abducted 539 days ago from the Nova music festival.

“He has shrapnel in his eye, he has shrapnel in his shoulder, he has shrapnel in his arm. Alon has been bound in chains, this entire time, and he had almost no food — at most one pita a day, over a very, very, very long time, more than a year,” an anguished Idit Ohel told Channel 12 at the time.

Hamas terrorists abducted Ohel — then 22, a pianist with plans to study jazz in Tel Aviv — alongside Levy and Eliya Cohen, who have both been released. Also abducted from the same bomb shelter was Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was murdered in Hamas captivity in August 2024.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 59 hostages, including 58 of the 251 people abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas released 30 hostages — 20 Israeli civilians, five soldiers, and five Thai nationals — and the bodies of eight slain Israeli captives during a ceasefire between January and March. The terror group freed 109 civilians in 2023, and eight hostages have been rescued from captivity by troops alive, while the bodies of 41 have also been recovered.