Rescued hostage Almog Meir Jan: Deal needed to free other captives so that mothers can hug their children, ‘like I can hug my mother now’

Rescued hostage Almog Meir Jan speaks in a video message released on July 6, 2024. (screenshot/Hostage and Missing Families Forum)
Rescued hostage Almog Meir Jan speaks in a video message released on July 6, 2024. (screenshot/Hostage and Missing Families Forum)

Almog Meir Jan, a hostage who was rescued by security forces from Gaza last month, says a deal to free the remaining captives is crucial so mothers can hug their children, “like I can hug my mother now.”

“Returning was like having a birthday, like being born again, and I really hope that all the hostages in Gaza will experience that same rebirth as I did,” he says in a video shown at the hostage demonstration in Tel Aviv.

Meir Jan expresses his condolences to the family of Arnon Zmora, who was killed in the operation to rescue him from captivity, and praises soldiers who have been wounded in the fighting.

Meir Jan emphasizes the importance of freeing the remaining captives through a deal.

“Only in Gaza, I thought that if I return alive, not if, when I return alive, the meaning of my tattoo that says ‘alive’ will receive a completely different meaning to what I intended it to in the beginning,” he says.

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