‘They’re not posters, they’re people’: Freed hostages warn of risk to captives as fighting resumes

Freed captives Sasha Troufanov, Iair Horn and Keith Siegel make public remarks at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, reacting to the resumption of IDF airstrikes against Hamas that ended the fragile Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Freed hostage Yarden Bibas is also present, as is former captive Yocheved Lifshitz, whose husband Oded was killed in Hamas captivity.

All three speakers call for a return to talks, asking the mediating countries to help bring the sides back to the negotiating table.

Troufanov, who spent 498 days in Palestinian Islamic Jihad captivity, says that military action endangers the remaining hostages but decision-makers are not taking this risk into account.

“I can’t stop thinking about my friends who are still there,” says Troufanov, mentioning brothers Ariel Cunio and David Cunio.

Bibas, who was also released during the recent ceasefire, stands behind Troufanov wearing a shirt and holding signs featuring the faces of the Cunio brothers, his longtime friends from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

“There was a deal that brought me home, and a second phase was supposed to start,” says Troufanov. “What happened to phase two? Why are we abandoning them? The hostages… are not posters, they’re people, and their time is running out.

Horn, tears up as he speaks about his brother, Eitan Horn, who was also taken captive with him from Kibbutz Nir Oz and left behind in Gaza when Iair was freed.

“The military pressure won’t save them,” says Horn, as he turns around and points to the other freed hostages. “We know this from our very bodies.”

“My little brother Eitan was left behind there in the hell and I feel,” Horn says, swallowing hard. “A third of me is left behind in Gaza. All the [Hamas propaganda] videos that you’ve seen of me and Eitan, of Matan Angrest, of Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Eviatar David, all the videos were signs of life and I hope they don’t become their final videos, because of the return to fighting.”

The final speaker is Siegel, who is accompanied by his wife, ex-hostage Aviva Siegel.

Siegel speaks in Hebrew and then in English, describing some of the cramped spaces and underground conditions in which he was held, deprived of air, light, sanitation, sufficient food or water.

“I lived in constant uncertainty, not knowing who among my family and friends had survived on October 7,” he says. “My survival depended on armed terrorists. I witnessed firsthand acts of brutality — violence and cruelty that I never imagined possible between human beings in this day and age.”

Siegel says that the collapse of the ceasefire brings renewed fear for the 59 remaining hostages and their families.

“President Trump, I am eternally grateful that you helped bring me home from captivity. I know you will not stop your efforts to secure the release of the 59 remaining hostages. We call on all mediators and the international community to exert maximum pressure on Hamas and all negotiating parties to resume talks and secure the immediate release of every hostage. Time is running out. We must act now.”