A month since their release, Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Maxim Herkin vow ‘one last push’ for 3 last hostages

Guy Gilboa-Dalal, one of the last 20 living hostages who were released on October 13 as part of the Gaza ceasefire, tells the crowd at Hostages Square that footage he saw from there before being taken down into Hamas’s tunnel complex gave him hope throughout “two years of darkness.”

“You gave me hope and strength,” he says. “The people of Israel, who don’t forget about their brothers.”

He also thanks IDF troops and pays tribute to two of his friends, Idan Haramati and Ron Tzarfati, who were murdered at the Reim-area Nova music festival, from which he and fellow recently released hostage Evyatar David were abducted during the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.

Only on the day of his release did Gilboa-Dalal learn of Tzarfati and Haramati’s fate, he says, adding: “They’ll forever be in my heart.”

He vows not to forget the remaining three deceased hostages in Gaza, Dror Or, Ran Gvili, and Sudthisak Rinthalak.

“Their families and the entire nation of Israel are waiting for them,” he says. “The deed is not done until everyone is back, down to the last hostage.”

Maxim Herkin, another of the living hostages released on October 13, also speaks at Hostages Square. He says he hasn’t prepared a speech and is instead “speaking from the heart.”

“Two years I’ve dreamed of this moment,” he tells the crowd. “You brought me home.”

Watching the Hostages Square rallies from the tunnels in Gaza, he says, he wanted to hug every last citizen of Israel.

“Almost all the guys” are back from Gaza, says Herkin. “We’ll give one last push and get to the finish line.”