Freed hostages meet UN secretary general, who says he carries dog tag with him ‘everywhere’

Israeli hostages freed from captivity in Gaza meet for the first time with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

According to a statement from the Hostages Families Forum, Guterres tells the group that he is calling for the immediate release of all the remaining hostages, as well as an investigation and prosecution of sex crimes committed by Hamas.

Released hostages Nili Margalit and Moran Stela Yanai were among the group meeting with the UN secretary general, who has faced harsh criticism from Israel for his response to the October 7 atrocities and the ongoing war.

Guterres surprises those at the meeting by pulling out of his pocket a dog tag which calls for the release of the hostages, saying, “The dog tag is in the right pocket of my coat, where my hand normally is, and I take it with me everywhere to remember the hostages at every moment,” according to a statement from the forum.

The freed hostages also met in Davos last night with a large group of tech executives and business moguls from around the world, telling them their stories and those of the hostages left behind.

Margalit told them that “most of the people I was with in the tunnels are still being held deep underground, and they are terrified and wounded… there is not enough air to breathe, not enough food and no basic hygiene. The body is so weak that any disease can kill you.”

Stela Yanai says that when she was kidnapped, “I lost everything: control over my life, my freedom, my identity, my self… I was released, but I promised my friends I left behind in captivity that I would do everything I could to bring them back.”