Freed hostage at start of march from Gaza border to Jerusalem: ‘I’m marching for my husband and the others’
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
In a cleared field of Kibbutz Re’im, ringed by eucalyptus trees and filled with families of hostages holding posters with the familiar faces of their loved ones, a four-day march organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum begins, in the very location where hundreds of Supernova partygoers were killed or kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7.
Forum spokesperson Haim Rubinstein offers condolences for the two soldiers whose deaths in Gaza were announced this morning, and reminds listeners what happened in this clearing when “young people who wanted to party and to love found themselves in a nightmare that no one could imagine.”
The four-day march will pass through “many cities” on the way to Jerusalem, says Rubinstein, who asks people to join at some point or for the entire journey, to unite for the purpose of freeing the hostages.
Released hostage Sharon Alony Cunio, who was in captivity in Gaza with her twin three-year-old daughters until the end of November, and whose husband David Cunio is still a hostage there, refers to a previous march of the hostage families, held prior to the November release of 105 hostages.
“I couldn’t march last time,” she says, “I’m marching this time for my husband and all the hostages, in this important struggle.”
There’s no other way to emphasize the importance of bringing home the hostages, says Dekel Lifschitz, whose grandfather, Oded Lifschitz, is still held hostage and whose grandmother, Yocheved Lifschitz, was released in October.
“We’re a big family in Israel, and we’re waiting to see 134 people of this family,” says Lifschitz. “This is for all of us who live here and want the most obvious thing, that our country will have our back. Grandpa, be strong, your nation is coming for you.”
Nova survivor Niv Cohen went to the party with four friends, two of whom were taken hostage — Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa Dallal — and two of whom were killed — Ron Tzarfati and Idan Haramati — and says he can’t really begin his rehabilitation without his friends.
“I’m still here, standing,” says Cohen. “But my soul was left behind, somewhere among these trees where I hid for so many hours.”
Cohen says that he was a combat soldier in the army and was very appreciative of all who have been fighting for the last four and a half months. Now it was time for the hostages to come home, he said.
The parents of Omer Neutra, Ronen and Orna Neutra, say they can’t believe that they haven’t been able to bring Omer home yet.
Orna Neutra, the mother of hostage Omer Neutra, says, “We have no more words, no more strength, and I want to disappear until there’s a breakthrough, until they call us and tell us, ‘your diamond, Omer Neutra, is in our hands.’ And I understand there is nowhere to escape this nightmare and we can’t compare this to your nightmare, which I can’t even imagine. I’ll pick myself up again and again and again, I’ll travel to the ends of the word, I’ll speak in your name, my beautiful, silenced boy.”
