Ex-hostage Eliya Cohen assails Gaza City takeover plan as protesters demand to shut down the country

Eliya Cohen, who was released from Hamas captivity in February as part of the last truce-hostage deal, speaks at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv alongside his girlfriend Ziv Abud to call attention to the women whose husbands remain in captivity on Tu B’Av, the Jewish festival of love, which began last night.

“Today is Tu B’Av, and I, with God’s help, am standing here next to my woman, after being sure for 505 days that she was murdered in the shelter where we hid” during the Hamas massacre at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, says Cohen.

“I was saved, came back and she was waiting for me,” he says. “Today we could have celebrated, but it’s impossible… when we know that there are families that didn’t get that chance. That there are still people there who are unsure if they’ll get to love again.”

Following harrowing footage of captives Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski published by terror groups last week, Cohen says “the writing was on the wall” that the hostages were being starved, adding that the cabinet’s decision to take over Gaza City puts them in still more danger.

“The decision to take over Gaza stresses me out. I know what happens to the hostages when the fighting intensifies,” he says.

Cohen calls for a comprehensive deal to end the war and release all 50 remaining hostages: “I know what it’s like to come back in a partial deal. I live with daily feelings of guilt, and don’t wish upon anyone to feel what it’s like to leave a brother behind.”

Following Cohen’s speech at Hostages Square, hostages’ families begin a march around the IDF headquarters in protest of the Gaza City takeover plan, joining protesters and other hostages’ families from the anti-government protest outside the Begin Street entrance to the IDF headquarters.

During that protest, speakers urged soldiers to refuse to serve in Gaza and called on opposition heads as well as business, labor and academic leaders to bring the country to a standstill.

“An entire county is held hostage by Hamas and the government of Israel,” said Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker. “What needs to be done? The country needs to grind to a halt, now.”