Granddaughter of freed hostage questions whether PM doing enough to bring abductees home

During a brief on-stage interview at the 24-hour rally for the hostages in Tel Aviv, the granddaughter of released hostage Adina Moshe questions whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is really doing all that he can to return people home.”

Anat Shoshani — whose grandmother was freed from captivity as part of the hostage deal between Hamas and Israel and whose grandfather was murdered by Hamas on October 7 in Nir Oz — is the first of many to be interviewed as part of the overnight speaker’s lineup.

“We can’t rest, and we can’t stay silent,” she says to Linoy Bar-Geffen, the journalist emceeing the event. “The people here [at Hostages Square] have really become my family. Behind every hostage are dear and good people who just want their family back home.”

Between each interview is a musical performance featuring artists from the Gaza border communities that Hamas invaded on October 7.

During a press conference earlier tonight, Netanyahu was pressed to address the plight of the roughly 132 hostages still in Gaza.

The premier responded that no one can put themselves in the “nightmare” situation in which the hostages’ families have found themselves over the past 100 days, adding that his heart is with them and that he will not rest until all of the hostages are returned.

But he went on to say that the hostages’ families cannot put themselves in the shoes of the political decision-makers, suggesting that other considerations need to be taken into account in negotiations to free those held captive.

Some critics of this stance argue that the government must pay whatever price is necessary to free the hostages, given that the state had a responsibility to protect its citizens and failed to do so on October 7.