Brother of hostage Avinatan Or speaks to Al Jazeera, appeals to Hamas for info
Moshe Or calls for comprehensive deal to bring back all hostages and end war; tells Hebrew media he’s prepared to do anything for his brother, government should do the same
The brother of hostage Avinatan Or spoke with the Al Jazeera network, appealing for information about his sibling and urging Hamas to reach an agreement that would return all the captives from the Gaza Strip in return for ending the war there.
Moshe Or made the remarks in a video broadcast Wednesday by the Qatar-based network, which has been banned from operating in Israel amid accusations it cooperates with Hamas. Qatar, which backs the Palestinian terror group, has funded Hamas and hosts its political leaders.
Or was not directly interviewed by the station, but apparently sent in a video of himself talking in Hebrew. The network broadcast the clip with an Arabic translation voiceover.
“We are looking for any information about him or his condition,” Or said of his brother Avinatan. “Even to receive from him any information or a message.”
“I appeal to Hamas, you have released most of the hostages, and things went well,” he said. “Come on, let’s do one deal for everyone and finish things.”
Two ceasefire deals, a week-long one in November 2023 and a second that lasted several weeks from January to March 2025, saw the release of most of the hostages. In return, Israel freed some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The January ceasefire eventually collapsed, and Israel resumed attacks in Gaza.
Or said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the one “making the decisions” on a deal with Hamas and rejected the government’s claims that it is the terror group that is holding up the process of negotiating another ceasefire and hostage release deal.
“The statement that Hamas is the only one deciding regarding a deal is unreasonable,” he said.
“We believe the right thing to do is to reach a comprehensive deal that returns my brother Avinatan and the hostages together in return for ending the war.”
Or said that there is “no price too big” for securing his brother’s release.
“There is a large majority in Israel that supports returning the hostages. The cost of the deal doesn’t matter,” he said. “How long does he need to remain in captivity until the prime minister decides to bring him back?”
Speaking later to the Ynet outlet, Or explained Al Jazeera had asked to interview him, and he sent the video in order to get some information about his brother, or to him.
Hostages have said that they were occasionally permitted to watch Al Jazeera while in captivity.
“Perhaps Avinatan will see it and will gain strength,” Or said.
“I don’t talk with Al Jazeera because I like them — they are not legitimate in my view,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to talk to them, but in the current situation, I am being pragmatic. I feel that things aren’t happening, so I am trying other platforms.”
He also said it was a way of sending a message to Hamas.
“I am prepared to do everything and to speak with everyone in order for Avinatan to come home,” Or said. “I expect our leaders to behave like me, to do everything and agree to everything in order to bring the hostages home now.”
Or said he was upset with the government.
“I am disappointed that a year and a half has passed and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.”
He revealed the family has raised NIS 250,000 ($67,846), which it is prepared to pay for information about Avinatan.
“We are very worried about him. We know he is in the tunnels,” he said.
Many families of hostages have increasingly voiced their support for a single deal to free all the hostages and end the war, rather than the formula used in previous truces when hostages were released in batches.
Current negotiations are said to be snagged on Hamas’s insistence that a deal include an end to war, while Israel remains determined not to stop until the terror group is destroyed and removed from power in Gaza.
Avinatan Or was abducted from the Nova festival and separated from his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, on October 7, 2023, when Hamas invaded southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Terrorists also abducted 251 people as hostages to Gaza, of whom 58 are still in captivity. The attack triggered the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Later that day, a Hamas video of Or and Argamani was posted on Telegram, showing Argamani on an all-terrain vehicle, as she called out in fear, crying, “Don’t kill me!” and reaching out to Or, who was being marched away from her, surrounded by at least three terrorists.
Argaman was rescued by the IDF in a daring daylight operation on June 8 last year, along with hostages Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv.
The first sign of life about Or came earlier this year from a freed hostage who reportedly told Israeli authorities he saw Avinatan while they were in captivity.
The Times of Israel Community.