Ex-captives slam renewed fighting in Gaza, demand return to hostage-ceasefire deal

Liri Albag and Gadi Mozes, who were released from Gaza captivity as part of the now-defunct ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas, slam the resumption of hostilities in the enclave during speeches at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

Albag, a surveillance soldier abducted from the Nahal Oz base during the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, says that “every return to fighting endangers the hostages.”

“Whenever the air force strikes, they’re the first ones to pay the price,” she says.

After the collapse of the first truce-hostage deal in November 2023, “I also collapsed,” says Albag. “I remember that moment — one moment where everything that kept us going shattered.”

“We are a nation that sanctifies life, not death. We’re a nation that builds, not a nation that destroys. We’re a nation that fights only to rescue and protect!” she says.

“This week is Passover — the festival of freedom. But what kind of freedom is it when 59 people are still in Hamas hell?” adds Albag.

“I remember Passover there — a sad holiday,” she says. “We were depressed. We were enslaved.”

Mozes, an 80-year-old farmer abducted by Palestinian Islamic Jihad from Kibbutz Nir Oz, demands the government “end the war, withdraw the military from the Strip, and carry out the second stage of the deal that Israel signed” but refused to negotiate during the 42-day first phase that expired on March 2.

“We have no time. The earth is burning under our feet,” says Mozes.

“The assumption that killing people will make Hamas understand that they need to release hostages is fundamentally wrong,” continues Mozes. “They aren’t interested in human life or property. They have a bargaining chip in their hands and want to get the most out of it.”

“The war drums are echoing in my ears again,” he adds. “I was there and heard those voices from the other side of the border.”

“Our brothers in captivity lose all hope when the sounds of rockets can be heard from every direction,” Mozes says, referring to the 24 hostages still thought to be alive, who are all young men. “Those rockets have killed and can kill our defenseless brothers.”