‘What could be more important?’ ask hostage relatives after convoy to Gaza border

More than 300 vehicles in a convoy adorned with yellow flags and Israeli flags, along with thousands of participants, arrive at Kibbutz Be’eri as part of a hostage families convoy, calling for the government to “seal the deal.”

Seated in an outdoor amphitheater at the kibbutz, holding posters of hostages and flags, many wearing t-shirts featuring the faces of the hostages, the audience listens to three speakers whose loved ones were taken captive to Gaza on October 7.

Ella Ben-Ami, whose father, Ohad Ben-Ami, is still held hostage and whose mother, Raz Ben-Ami, was kidnapped and released in the November deal, calls on the prime minister to “gather courage” and bring the hostages home.

“There’s a very clear choice on the table: Take the deal today and save lives, including my father’s, or let them die and only retrieve tortured bodies,” says Ben-Ami.

The speakers reiterate the importance of redeeming hostages as more vital than retaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt, referring to the shifting sticking points over the last several months of negotiations.

“What could be more important than the hostages returning to walk on the soil they grew up on?” asks Daniel Lifshitz, grandson of Oded Lifshitz, 83, also taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. “The Philadelphi Corridor? Or the value of our lives as Jewish people? The corridor or 108 hostages? The corridor or the redemption of captives?”

Lifshitz’s wife, Yocheved Lifshitz, 84, was also taken hostage on October 7, but released on October 23, along with another hostage, Nurit Cooper, also from Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Oded Lifschitz is a lifelong journalist known as a passionate advocate for human rights.

Some of the speakers are mourning their loved ones, like Eliya Dancyg, granddaughter of hostage Alex Dancyg, 75, who was taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz and killed in captivity.

Dancyg’s body was found on August 19 and returned to Israel for burial by IDF troops, along with the bodies of Yagev Buchshtav, 35, Nadav Popplewell, 51, Avraham Munder, 78, Chaim Peri, 79 and Yoram Metzger, 80.

Dancyg, along with Munder, Peri and Metzger, were all abducted alive by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.

Dancyg was buried on August 25 at Kibbutz Nir Oz.

“He was kidnapped from his home, abandoned by the government, suffered in the tunnels, and was murdered by Hamas terrorists following IDF bombings,” says his granddaughter, Eliya Dancyg. “He could have returned alive in a deal, even in the first one. Do you understand? I could have hugged him again, but that will never happen now.”

The hostage families will go to the Gaza border tomorrow morning, from Kibbutz Nirim, to use giant loudspeakers to call out to their loved ones, in the hopes that they will be heard.