From the Liveblog of
Saturday, February 15, 2025
‘Going through a holocaust’: Hostage’s brother says chances his loved one is alive are going down
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
At Tel Aviv’s Begin Road protest for the release of all captives from Gaza, Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, welcomes home Iair Horn, Sasha Trufanov and Sagui Dekel-Chen, who were released today, apologizing on behalf of the nation for how long it took to bring them home.
“The hostages are going through a holocaust, they won’t last long,” says Zangauker, reiterating the need for the government to fulfill the second stage of the hostage deal.
Danny Elgarat, the brother of Itzik Elgarat, notes that his brother is on the original list of 33 hostages to be freed in the ongoing first stage of the deal. Hamas has informed Israel that eight of these hostages are dead. Nineteen live captives have been freed alive so far, meaning only six of the remaining 14 are alive.
“The chances he is alive are growing narrower,” says Elgarat. “We’re waiting for a sign of life and we hope he’s alive.”
Zangauker calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get all the hostages home and not to return to war in Gaza, which she contends would be because of his own political considerations.
Elgarat turns to US President Donald Trump and asks him to put pressure on Netanyahu to bring home the hostages first and deal with Hamas afterward.
The Times of Israel Community.