In video address to hostage rallies, freed captive pleads for protests to continue

Former Hamas hostage Ohad Ben Ami, who was freed from Gaza on February 8 as part of the ceasefire and hostage release deal, appealed for the release of the remaining captive in a video message played at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Saturday evening, where hundreds were gathered for a weekly rally.

Hundreds more were congregated on the nearby Begin Road, for a demonstration at the entrance to the IDF military headquarters, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding security consultations about the future of the agreement.

Critics have accused the premier of trying to thwart the continuation of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, fears that have grown in recent days after US President Donald Trump suggested that Israel would have the US’s backing to resume the war should Hamas fail to release “all of the hostages” by noon on Saturday.

With midday on Saturday having come and gone, Netanyahu has yet to clarify what he intends to do, but a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said he would “convene the security cabinet as soon as possible to decide on Israel’s next steps.”

Protests calling for the release of hostages have taken place weekly across Israel — including several different spots in Tel Aviv — since soon after the Hamas October 7, 2023 massacre, which saw terrorists kill some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnap 251.

They have continued even after the ceasefire came into effect, as the future stages of the phased deal have yet to be negotiated.

In his pre-recorded address at Hostages Square, Ben Ami thanked the protesters who have come out week after week to draw attention to the plight of the hostages and ensure that they remain in the public eye.

What keeps you going is that suddenly you see a nation fighting for you,” he said. “You have no idea, no idea how much power that gives to those left behind.”

Freed captive Ohad Ben Ami speaks in a video message published February 15, 2025. (Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Ben Ami, who, along with fellow freed hostages Or Levy and Eli Sharabi, returned emaciated last Saturday, recalled the difficulty he experienced leaving behind the other hostages he was held with, and urged them from across the distance to “be strong.”

“The people want you back,” he said. “With God’s help, you’ll get out, you’ll get home in the coming days.”

He warned that time was running out for the remaining 73 hostages still in Gaza.

“You see how people slowly change and how time takes its toll, and even people who had hope and faith suddenly start to lose that, and you constantly need to lift them,” he said.

Of his own experience, Ben Ami said that on October 7, 2023, he was “plucked out and stuck in some sealed bottle, and life went on… I had no idea what was going on outside.”

He said his captors leveraged his ignorance of the news to employ “psychological terrorism,” and would tell him and the other hostages that the Israeli government had abandoned them.

“You have to survive with these messages, one day after another,” he said. “Even if you didn’t believe these messages, as time goes on, you see that’s the reality… you can very quickly start to lose it.”

After the video aired, Ben Ami’s daughter Ella Ben Ami took to the stage at Hostages Square, where she has become a regular over the past 15 months.

“My father is home. My father has returned, to the State of Israel, to his people, to the people who love him and fought so hard to get him out of hell. Thank you, you saved him,” she told the crowd.

“When my father exited the Hamas vehicle, I collapsed to the floor, I couldn’t handle it, it was worse than all my nightmares,” she said, recalling seeing his gaunt and weak figure for the first time. “But my father is a strong man, a hero, an inspiration. He endured all the difficulties and came back strong in spirit for us.”

‘We’re sick of the procrastination’

Down the street, at the start of the Begin Road demonstration, Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan Zangauker is only slated for release in the second phase of the deal, welcomed home Iair Horn, Sasha Trufanov and Sagui Dekel-Chen, who were released on Saturday morning, and apologized on behalf of the nation for how long it took to bring them home.

Netanyahu, Zangauker declared, “has tried to thwart the agreement again, and again, and again.”

“One person stands between us and all the hostages,” she said. “Netanyahu — we’re sick of the procrastination.”

Assailing the protracted multi-stage hostage releases, Zangauker noted that returnees have brought with them signs of life from the captives who have yet to be freed. Some of them will be released later in the first phase, while others will not be freed until the second stage of the deal — for which negotiations have yet to begin.

“Alongside the signs of life, there is a common message: The hostages are going through a Holocaust. They will not last much longer,” Zangauker warned, calling to mind the emaciated faces of previously freed hostages. “They must be released quickly, the agreement must be fully implemented.”

“But in the meantime,” she charged, “the Israeli government is doing everything it can to torpedo the second phase of the agreement. How is it that the negotiations that were supposed to start almost two weeks ago have not yet begun? How is it possible that the delegation has not been given a full mandate to finalize phase two, expedite the schedule and return everyone fast?”

“Give us an image of victory with our loved ones,” she implored.

Following Zangauker, Danny Elgarat took the mic and noted that his brother Itzik Elgarat is on the original list of 33 hostages to be released in the ongoing first phase of the ceasefire and hostage agreement.

Hamas has informed Israel that eight of the hostages on the list are dead. Nineteen living captives have so far been freed, meaning only six of the remaining 14 are alive.

“The chances he is alive are growing narrower,” Elgarat said. “We’re waiting for a sign of life and we hope he’s alive.”

He thanked Trump for the work his administration has put into the hostage deal thus far and asked him to pressure Netanyahu into ensuring that the deal is carried out in full before turning once more to the goal of eliminating the Hamas terror group.

“We see how the extremists in the government are pressuring Netanyahu and trying to sabotage the agreement,” Elgarat said to Trump. “They are abusing your support for Israel and your goodwill to bring everyone home.”

The Begin Road demonstration was bolstered by anti-government protesters who marched over from Habima Square.

The main bloc of protesters was flanked by activists from various civil society groups including members of the Israel Gay Youth movement, who waved pride flags as they marched, and a coalition of left-wing groups including Standing Together, Women Wage Peace and Socialist Struggle, along with the Movement for Quality Government.

In an address to the rallygoers, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid demanded that Israel not halt the ceasefire at the conclusion of the first phase. “Israel must go to phase two of the deal,” he said. “Everyone must return home.”

Protesters take to Jerusalem streets

At a smaller demonstration in Jerusalem on Saturday evening, one protester was arrested during a march to the Prime Minister’s Residence after she and several others took part in a display symbolizing the conditions of the captives in Gaza.

The display involved four demonstrators wearing scant clothing and covered in fake blood, kneeling on the ground during the procession and raising their hands, bound together with rope.

Seventy of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas has so far released 24 hostages — civilians, soldiers, and Thai nationals — during a ceasefire that began in January.

The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli 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 body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza in January.