Mother of slain hostage: We should surrender to Hamas to save remaining hostages

Iris Haim, the mother of slain hostage Yotam Haim, suggests that Israel should surrender to Hamas in order to free the remaining hostages in Gaza.

“We surrendered to Hamas for 20 years, we gave more and more and more, and now we need to free those who still can be [freed],” Haim writes in a post on Facebook, following the recent release of propaganda videos showing two Israeli hostages, Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David, nearing starvation.

“For me and for my family, it’s too late, Yotam won’t return,” Haim writes of her son, who was taken hostage on October 7 and managed to flee his captors but was accidentally shot dead by Israeli troops in Gaza on December 15, 2023, alongside two other Israeli hostages.

“Surrender? I’m prepared to surrender, in exchange for the hostages, in exchange for the last honor that remains in the face of the families like mine who still have hope,” Haim writes.

She adds that “if the army is strong enough, there will be companies, platoons and divisions who will protect the residents of the Gaza envelope — that’s the mission. Not at the expense of the survivors of starvation and abuse who still have breath in their lungs.”