October 7 families group says images from Gaza handover ‘echo photos of Holocaust survivors’

Israeli captives, from left to the right, Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, who have been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, onstage before being handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Israeli captives, from left to the right, Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, who have been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, onstage before being handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The October Council, representing families directly affected by the Hamas invasion and slaughter on October 7, 2023, says the pictures from Gaza of the three released hostages “echo photographs of Holocaust survivors, and serve as a further reminder of the worst failure in the history of the state, and the need to investigate it fully.”

“Eli, Or and Ohad’s families also need answers,” the group says in a statement.

“How was it that citizens were abducted from Israel to the Gaza Strip? Why did it take almost 500 days to get them back? And how can it be that, even now, living hostages are held in inhumane conditions in tunnels?”

The group repeats its demands for a state commission of inquiry, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is resisting.

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