Two days after release, ex-captive warns remaining hostages ‘don’t have any more time’

Thousands of people rallied in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square Monday night to mark 500 days since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in southern Israel — calling for the return of hostages still held by terrorists in Gaza.

Gathering at the tail end of a 500-minute fast called to mark the somber occasion, relatives of hostages and others urged the government to step up efforts to get them out of Gaza, their warnings of wretched conditions bolstered by the accounts of those recently freed, including one man released just two days earlier.

“I was there. I was in Hamas’s tunnels. My body endured this captivity, and I’m telling you the hostages do not have any more time,” a tearful Iair Horn said in a pre-recorded video screened to a crowd of around 2,000 people.

Horn was freed on Saturday alongside Sagui Dekel-Chen and Sasha Troufanov as part of a ceasefire and hostage release arrangement with the Hamas terror group in Gaza. All three were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were seized as hostages.

“We’re out of time. We must return them now,” said Horn, whose brother Eitan Horn was also kidnapped and remains in captivity. “Bring back my brother and all of the hostages.”

The ceasefire deal is due to see six more hostages freed over the next few weeks, as well as the bodies of eight other people who were kidnapped. But a second phase meant to secure the release of the remaining hostages remains in doubt, with the government sending mixed signals regarding the resumption of negotiations.

Aviva Seigel, a former hostage whose husband Keith was released earlier this month, said his captors took away his humanity over the long months he was held.

“Out of the 484 days he was in Gaza, he was alone for six months, lying on a mattress on a floor in a very small room, starved,” she said. “The only food that went into his mouth was moldy or burnt pita bread unfit for humans to eat.”

She described Keith being subjected to a random beating and having one of his captors point a gun at him and threaten to kill him for no reason.

“I asked Keith, ‘What did you do [when] he did that to you?’ Keith told me: ‘Nothing.’ The terrorists turned Keith into nothing,” she said. “Every human thing was taken from him, sometimes even going to the bathroom.”

‘Haven’t breathed for 500 days’

Varda Ben Baruch, grandmother of US-Israeli captive soldier Edan Alexander, recited a blessing and sipped some water, as she called for the hostages’ release.

“I want to break the fast and break their fate,” she said.

Edan’s mother Yael spoke next.

“I am Yael Alexander, and I haven’t breathed for 500 days,” she said.  Subsequent speakers opened their speeches the same way.

She urged the government to hammer out a deal that would bring all remaining hostages home at once, rather than the current deal’s phased releases — another common theme in the night’s speeches.

She ended with what would also emerge as a refrain: “To give up on them is to give up on us!”

In English, she thanked US President Donald Trump and his Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.

“President Trump, in the last two weeks, you brought back two American citizens, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Keith Siegel,” she said. “Today, I ask you to bring my son Edan home to our family.”

Danielle Aloni, who was held captive in Gaza until she was freed as part of a brief ceasefire agreement in November 2023, and whose brother-in-law, David Cunio, and his younger brother, Ariel, remain in captivity, said her family received a sign of life from David from one of the recently freed hostages. The crowd broke out into applause.

Addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Aloni said: “As of a few days ago, David is alive. And it’s your responsibility to bring him home. David has no more time to wait.”

Both Edan Alexander and David Cunio are slated for release in the deal’s second phase, which would see Hamas release young men still in captivity after the release in the current phase of 33 women, children, civilian men over 50 and those deemed “humanitarian cases.”

Netanyahu’s right-wing flank has threatened to topple the government should it proceed to the second phase, which would require Israel to withdraw from Gaza. The premier has not committed to the second phase.

Yeela David, whose brother Evyatar David is also only slated to be freed in the second phase, said it was “the last chance to save to save dozens of men left behind in the current phase of the deal.”

“The young men who were left behind did not undergo any special training to handle this situation. They’re just like anyone else,” she said. “If the deal falls apart and there is no second phase, it will be a stain on our history books.”

‘Fasting for 500 days’

The rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, along with other demonstrations and events held throughout the country at 8 p.m., capped the 500-minute fast that started at 11:40 a.m., which the Hostages and Missing Families Forum called to draw attention to and contemplation of the captives’ plight.

Recently released hostage Ohad Ben Ami called on the public to take part in the nationwide demonstrations, announcing, “I intend to go outside and fight for them.”

“What strongly kept my hopes up down there was that I knew people were fighting for me,” said Ben Ami, who was released by Hamas this month, emaciated after 16 months of mistreatment. “You have no idea how much strength it would give to those left behind.”

In the morning, hostage families and activists on behalf of the captives blocked roads across the country, including the central Namir Road in Tel Aviv.

In Jerusalem, relatives of hostages and supporters gathered outside the Hostages and Missing Families Forum tent on Azza Street in Jerusalem, before marching to the Knesset.

Using words recited on Jewish fast days — “Please save us!” — Levi Ben Baruch, Edan Alexander’s uncle, wrapped in his prayer shawl and wearing tefillin, called for the return of all the hostages.

“We will fast 500 minutes for the captives,” he said.

“They’ve already been fasting for 500 days,” he said, asking the nation to fast with the families, to pray as one soul, as one heart.

“We want to know when they are all coming home,” added Ben Baruch.

Maccabit Meyer, aunt of hostages Ziv Berman and Gali Berman, said that day 500 wasn’t different than any of the others since her nephews were abducted to Gaza.

“I want Ziv and Gali to be held in the hug of their mother Talia,” she said, calling on the nation to come out and join their cry.

Holding a handmade sign featuring the images of hostages whose families have recently received signs of life from released captives, Shai Dickmann, cousin of Carmel Gat who was murdered in captivity at the end of August, noted that the hostages’ families saw the end of a hostage release and ceasefire agreement in November 2023.

“If war [re]starts, it is a death sentence for many of the hostages,” Dickmann said at the start of the march to the Knesset.

“More than 80 years ago, my grandmother was in the Holocaust and waited for nations to help her, but she suffered and survived and came here to help create a nation of ideals so that it wouldn’t happen again,” he continued. “We can’t wait for other nations to decide our fate; we must save them now that we have a state so that it won’t happen again.”

Uri Goren, cousin of Tal Haimi, who was killed on October 7, 2023, and whose body was taken to Gaza and is still held there, said that as details emerge of what released hostages have undergone in captivity, it is essential to bring all the hostages home.

Like Yael Alexander’s mother, Goren switched to English to express gratitude to Trump and Witkoff. He said that Trump had demonstrated leadership by pushing for the hostage deal and Witkoff has clearly stated that the administration is committed to releasing the captives and showing it understands.

“The deceased hostages must come back for [a] final resting place,” said Goren, adding that the only way to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people was to bring back every last hostage in order to rebuild areas of Gaza and bring healing to all people.

‘Longest October 7 of my life’

In the southern city of Carmei Gat, where residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz are living while their community is rebuilt after the Hamas massacre, the mother of David Cunio and Ariel Cunio said she has “been waiting 500 days” for her sons’ return.

“This is the longest October 7 of my life,” said Sylvia Cunio, who survived the October 7 atrocities.

David was taken hostage with his wife, Sharon Aloni-Cunio and their twin 3-year-old daughters, as well as Sharon’s sister Danielle and the latter’s young daughter. The women and children were all released in the November 2023 hostage deal.

Sylvia Cunio’s youngest son, Ariel, was also taken hostage from Nir Oz on October 7, along with his girlfriend, Arbel Yehoud. Yehoud was recently released after being held hostage in isolation in Gaza for 15 months.

“I want my sons now, now! Don’t abandon us; continue with the second stage of the talks, bring them home,” she said.

At Kibbutz Be’eri, survivors gathered at the site of the devastated community to mark 500 days since October 7, with a rally calling for the return of the 70 remaining captives held in Gaza.

One of the speakers was Nira Sharabi, whose husband Yossi Sharabi was killed in captivity in Gaza and whose brother-in-law Eli Sharabi was recently released from captivity and discovered that his wife and two daughters were killed in their Be’eri home that day.

Sharabi said that after all the living hostages are returned, they will have to turn to the next impossibly difficult task of bringing back the bodies of all those killed and taken to Gaza — or who have died in captivity — and burying them in Israel. Hamas is believed to be holding the bodies of at least 36 people.

“Our beloved Yossi, until he’s be buried here, we’re can’t say our farewell to him and can’t continue forward,” she said.

Other Be’eri residents spoke, including former hostage Raya Rotem, who said she knows what it’s like to be a hostage in Gaza, even though she was “only” there for 54 days.

“What happens to a person who is kept there for 500 days? If there hadn’t been additional releases in the previous [November 2023] deal, I wouldn’t have left the house where I was kept and where I separated from Itay Svirsky, who was supposed to mark his 40th birthday,” said Rotem, referring to a hostage who killed in captivity whose body was later recovered by Israeli troops.