From the Liveblog of
Saturday, November 2, 2024
‘The army has already won, now it’s the political echelon’s turn’: Hostage families call for ceasefire at Tel Aviv rally
The weekly rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square disperses after a chorus of “Hatikva,” the national anthem.
Speakers at the rally reiterate the Hostage Families Forum’s recent demand for a hostage deal that would see all 101 remaining hostages released at once.
“There is no time for a multi-stage deal, and no use for it,” says Ronen Neutra, father of Israeli-American hostage Omer Neutra, who was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, while serving as a tank commander near Gaza.
Two of the possible deals currently being discussed are an Egyptian proposal to release four hostages during a two-day ceasefire, and a multi-stage, Qatari-American proposal that would ultimately see all hostages released and the war ended.
Earlier draft agreements envisioned a staggered release, beginning with “humanitarian” cases — female, elderly and injured hostages.
“All the hostages are humanitarian,” says Neutra, adding that a speedy release of all the captives would afford Israel a “magnificent victory” over Hamas.
כיכר החטופים
(מרסלו שניידמן) pic.twitter.com/YVNq23DEcu— Arbel Moyal???? (@ArbelPatootie) November 2, 2024
Speaking in English, Orna Neutra, the hostage’s mother, says that on October 7, 2023, her son fought Hamas terrorists knowing “that if something happened to him he would not be left behind.”
“That is the Israeli ethos,” she says.
Noam Idan Ben Ezra, whose brother Tsahi Idan was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, says, “The hostages’ release requires an end to the war.”
“The army has already won, now it’s the political echelon’s turn,” she says.
She demands a deal to release “everyone now, not in trickles and not in parts — Tsahi and all the hostages.”
The rally also features speeches by Amir Idan, Tsahi Idan’s cousin; Noam Katz, whose father Lior Rudaeff was killed on October 7 and kidnapped to Gaza; freed hostage Maya Regev; Ilan Dalal, father of hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal; and Dr. Ayelet Levy Shahar, mother of hostage Naama Levy.
Levy Shahar urges the Israeli public to “take to the streets.”
“Vote with your feet,” she says, “to save the values on which the state was founded.”
