Families of hostages mark year since October 7 at event with foreign diplomats

Former hostages and family members of captives appeal to foreign officials for help bringing cause back into the spotlight

Steffen Seibert, German ambassador to Israel, speaks at an event in Tel Aviv marking one year since the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, October 13, 2024. (Paulina Patimer / Hostages Families Forum)
Steffen Seibert, German ambassador to Israel, speaks at an event in Tel Aviv marking one year since the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, October 13, 2024. (Paulina Patimer / Hostages Families Forum)

The families of Hamas hostages marked one year since October 7 on Sunday at an event attended by foreign diplomats at the headquarters of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Tel Aviv.

The goal of the event was to draw “global attention” to the plight of the hostages, the forum said, and to “reinforce the urgent need for action to secure the release of those still held captive.”

It featured speeches from former hostages, as well as relatives of those who are still captive. It was attended by foreign diplomats and representatives from international advocacy organizations, of whom Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said it “sometimes felt like you cared more than the government of Israel.”

US embassy deputy of chief of mission Stephanie L. Hallet said her effort on the hostage negotiations had been “life-changing work” that began one year ago on October 8, first accounting for those US citizens brutally murdered by Hamas, and then those taken hostage.

“We have commemorated far too many birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays without these loved ones where they belong,” Hallet said, noting that “too many other horrific occasions have come as well,” including the execution of US-Israeli citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages in late August.

She vowed that the US would continue working with the international community to push for a deal ensuring the release of the hostages.

Stephanie Hallett, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy, speaks at an event in Tel Aviv marking one year since the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, October 13, 2024. (The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters)

“I want all of their family members to know, not just the American citizens but all of them: “We carry the stories of your loved ones with us,” Hallet stressed. “We tell those stories and we carry them in our hearts every single day. This is not just work that we do for the sake of doing the work. It’s because it’s part of us.”

Her words were echoed by UK Ambassador Simon Waters and German Ambassador Steffen Seibert who, in a mixture of Hebrew and English, said that the ambassadors had failed the hostages and their families, and must now ask themselves if they has truly pursued all possible options.

Simon Walters, British ambassador to Israel, speaks at an event in Tel Aviv marking one year since the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, October 13, 2024. (Paulina Patimer / Hostages Families Forum)

“It’s been a quiet few weeks in the talks over a ceasefire and hostage deal,” said Seibert, noting Israel’s current focus on battles with Hezbollah in Lebanon. “We must be willing to search for new ways. Every new idea is worth studying, every new proposal is worth checking — nothing should be taboo.”

Former hostage Aviva Siegel, who was released last November during a weeklong truce, opened up about her experiences in captivity, and about her fear for her husband Keith, who remains captive until today.

She asked people to imagine themselves as hostages, and described a scenario in which they had to watch their loved one being tortured while powerless to stop it.

“You have to vanish and not feel,” she said, describing a young girl who has never been touched and who finds herself assaulted by a Hamas terrorist. “If hostages coming back dead wasn’t enough to wake up the world, then what do we need to do?”

“I was there,” she said. “For 51 days. And I was in hell and Keith, my husband, and the girls and all the hostages are still there.”

“We should not allow any human being in the world to go through what Keith and the hostages are going through,” she said.

Former hostage Aviva Siegel speaks at an event in Tel Aviv marking one year since the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, October 13, 2024. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

She was echoed by Orly Gilboa, mother of Daniella Gilboa, who turned 20 in the tunnels of Gaza.

Gilboa asked the attendees to recall being 20 years old, and how their parents reacted when they stayed out later than they said they would.

“Try to imagine how I feel for over a year,” she said.

Orly Gilboa speaks at an event in Tel Aviv marking one year since the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, October 13, 2024. (Paulina Patimer / Hostages Families Forum)

“I do not need your pity. I do not need your thoughts and prayers,” she continued.

“I am asking you to do what leaders are supposed to — demand, negotiate. Do what you would have done to save your own child.”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid attends an event in Tel Aviv marking one year since the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, October 13, 2024. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Luis Har, who spent 129 days in captivity before he was rescued by the IDF in February, said that his return to Israel — along with the return of four more of his relatives — is “proof that it is possible” to rescue the remaining hostages.

“We need to fight together to succeed, regardless of religion or race,” he said. “We, the people of Israel, must be united and work together to bring everyone back. We must not lose hope.”

It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

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