Holocaust Remembrance Day marked by painful echoes amid Gaza hostage crisis
As Israel commemorates 80 years since Auschwitz’s liberation, survivors and hostage families highlight haunting resonance after October 7 and given captives’ ongoing plight
Stav Levaton is a military reporter for The Times of Israel
As Israel marked Holocaust Remembrance Day from Wednesday evening, survivors and hostage families drew chilling comparisons between two of the darkest periods in contemporary Jewish history.
Hostages kidnapped from Israel on October 7, 2023, are understood to be held in Gaza under inhumane conditions, suffering from malnutrition, untreated injuries, and abuse. Though historians often hesitate to analogize the Holocaust with other atrocities, many have highlighted such resonance to draw attention to the hostages’ plight and the scope of the atrocities in Israel’s south, including following the freeing of severely emaciated hostages in February.
Driving home the connection, a number of former hostages were set to take part in commemoration ceremonies at Auschwitz over Holocaust Remembrance Day, which began Wednesday night.
Speaking to public broadcaster Kan on Wednesday morning, Kobi Ohel, whose son Alon Ohel is among 59 hostages still held in Gaza, compared his son’s condition to the experiences of his grandfather in the Holocaust.
“As a child, I would hear my grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, waking up screaming at night from the memories. By God, we heard that Alon would experience nightmares at night,” Ohel said.
“It’s a crazy connection,” he added, “my grandfather’s great-grandson is now kidnapped in Gaza, with no control over his life.”
Ohel called for the government to agree to a deal freeing the remaining hostages, 24 of whom are thought to still be alive.
Since the collapse of a two-month ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in March, hostage negotiations have been deadlocked.
In late March, Ohel and his wife, Idit, urgently requested a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling him that their son was suffering life-threatening injuries and was on the brink of going blind.
According to testimonies from released hostages Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, who were held alongside Ohel throughout their captivity, the 24-year-old is suffering from shrapnel injuries to his eye, shoulder, and arm, leaving him in severely deteriorated health.
On top of his injuries, Ohel was also described as being chained up and has been withheld food throughout his captivity, according to freed hostages.
Sharabi and Levy were released from Hamas captivity alongside Ohad Ben Ami in February as part of a hostage deal that saw the release of 33 hostages.
All three returned home severely emaciated after 491 days in Hamas captivity, prompting government officials to liken their condition to that of survivors liberated from Nazi camps.
The Health Ministry reported that the men suffered from “severe malnutrition” and had lost a significant amount of their body weight, based on initial medical evaluations conducted hours after their release.
Hamas’s October 7 massacre was the deadliest attack against Jews since the Holocaust, with scholars and public officials often likening the Iran-backed terror group to Nazis and referring to the onslaught as a genocide.
In Poland, Thursday’s March of the Living commemorating 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz will include several former hostages and relatives of October 7 victims in the Israeli delegation — some of whom have also drawn parallels between the Holocaust and the Hamas attacks.
Among the attendees is Michael Kuperstein, a Holocaust survivor and grandfather of hostage Bar Kuperstein, who is still held captive by Hamas.
“I hear what those who returned are saying about the hostages, and it’s like a second Holocaust,” Kuperstein told the Jerusalem Post.
He added, “Bar is only 23, just at the beginning of his life, with so much ahead of him. I’m 84, fighting today so that all my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will have better lives. I want all the hostages to return home so we can get our lives back.”
Vered and Reuven Yablonka, the parents of Hanan Yablonka, who was murdered on October 7 while trying to flee the Nova festival, will also join the Israeli delegation.
“Holocaust Remembrance Day was always a painful day for us,” Vered explained to the Jerusalem Post. “I’m a second-generation survivor.”
After being killed by Hamas terrorists, the 41-year-old Yablonka’s body was taken into Gaza and held for eight months before being recovered by the IDF in May 2024.
“Yom HaShoah is even harder now. Our family was persecuted for being Jewish, and our beloved son was murdered for the same reason.”
“I won twice — once against the Nazis and once against Hamas,” said fellow delegate Tzili Wenkert, grandmother of released hostage Omer Wenkert. “I will march in the March of the Living as living proof that the Jewish people survive despite all attempts to destroy us.”
Another Holocaust survivor participating in the event is Irene Shashar, who spoke to the Army Radio on Tuesday, stating, “I know exactly what the hostages are going through — I was in the tunnels myself and hungry for bread.”
“My dream is that by the time I march in the March of the Living, the hostages will have returned to their families,” she said.
The Times of Israel Community.