‘They’re not just posters, they’re people’: Freed hostages urge deal to save those left behind

Hours after the resumption of airstrikes in Gaza, a group of freed hostages led large-scale protests, begging the government not to abandon those still held captive, and warning that IDF activity puts their lives in danger.

Freed hostages Sasha Troufanov, Yarden Bibas, Iair Horn and Keith Siegel, who were all returned to Israel in the most recent ceasefire, appeared Tuesday evening at Hostages Square in a desperate appeal to bring home the remaining captives, some of whom they were held with and left behind when they were freed. Former hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, who was freed in October 2023 and whose husband, Oded, was slain in captivity and his body returned to Israel last month, was also in attendance.

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

“There was a deal that brought me home, and a second phase was supposed to start,” added Troufanov, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 along with his mother, grandmother and girlfriend as his father, Vitaly, was murdered. “What happened to phase two? Why are we abandoning them? The hostages are not just posters, they’re people and their time is running out.”

Troufanov, whose family was released in November 2023 and who spent 498 days in Hamas captivity, said that Israeli military activity endangers the remaining hostages, but the decision-makers aren’t listening.

Bibas, who did not address the crowd, stood behind Trufanov wearing a shirt and holding signs featuring the faces of the Cunio brothers, his longtime friends from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Bibas was returned to Israel last month following 484 days in captivity. Several weeks later, Israel received the bodies of his wife and two sons, Shiri, Ariel and Kfir, who were also kidnapped and murdered in captivity.

Earlier Tuesday, Bibas shared a post on social media saying that he was “petrified” for his friends left in Gaza, and that news of the resumption of fighting triggered flashbacks to his captivity.

“Israel’s decision to return to fighting brings me back to Gaza, to the moments where I heard the sounds of explosions around me and where I feared for my life as I was afraid that the tunnel where I was being held would collapse,” he wrote. “My wife and children were kidnapped alive and were brutally murdered in captivity. The military pressure endangers the hostages while an agreement brings them home.”

Bibas said he is “petrified for my best friends, David and Ariel Cunio. I lost my Shiri, Ariel and Kfir, but David can still return alive to Sharon, Emma and Yuli, and Ariel to his partner Arbel Yehud and his family.”

Sylvia Cunio, the mother of Ariel and David, said on 103M Radio on Tuesday that “it isn’t right to continue the fighting. I want my children back home already. If he wants to kill me, the prime minister, let him do that already because I won’t get through this.”

Iair Horn, who was freed a month ago, teared up while speaking Tuesday evening as he mentioned his younger brother, Eitan Horn, who was taken captive with him from Kibbutz Nir Oz and left behind when Iair went home.

“The military pressure won’t save them,” said Horn, turning around and pointing 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 like a third of me is left behind in Gaza,” he said in tears. “All the [Hamas propaganda] videos that you’ve seen of me and Eitan, of Matan Angrest, of Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David, all the videos were signs of life and I hope they don’t become their final videos, because of the return to fighting.”

Siegel, a US native who addressed the crowd in both English and Hebrew, described being held in cramped spaces underground, 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,” said Siegel, whose wife, Aviva, was also kidnapped and freed in November 2023. “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 said that the collapse of the ceasefire and the new strikes in Gaza bring 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,” he said. “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.”

In a separate gathering Tuesday afternoon outside the Knesset, the family members of slain hostages also called for a return to negotiations, including their appeals to Trump to intervene.

Noam Peri, whose father, Chaim Peri, was kidnapped and murdered in captivity before his body was retrieved, said her father could have come home alive.

She appealed to US President Donald Trump, recalling the key role he has played in reuniting so many hostage families.

“We need [Trump’s] leadership along with the world’s urgent action — to secure a deal now,” she said.

Bereaved father Michel Illouz, whose son Guy Illouz was killed in captivity and his body still being held hostage, stood outside the Knesset and shook his head: “I have nothing to say. I just came back from the US and I can’t believe this is what I returned to.”

Ayelet Svatitzky, whose brother, Nadav Popplewell, was slain in captivity and his body returned to Israel, said that others can still be saved.

“They can still be saved. They can still be brought home. And those who did not survive deserve to be returned and buried with dignity,” she said. “A deal is the only way to bring them all back. Please, do not let other families suffer the same fate as mine. There is still time.”

Noa Argamani, who was kidnapped from the Nova festival and rescued by the IDF in August 2024, said on social media Tuesday that the resumption of strikes in Gaza meant that “all hopes explode in an instant” for the return of the remaining hostages.

Addressing her boyfriend, hostage Avinatan Or, she wrote: “I’m sorry, Avinatan… for 529 days, you haven’t seen daylight. I’m sorry that you were left behind.”

Argamani recalled her own captivity in Gaza, describing how the end of the weeklong November 2023 ceasefire ended her hopes of returning home: “Suddenly, all the dreams of going home, of hugging family and friends — shattered in an instant… one moment, the ceasefire was gone, and with it, the hope that I would get out of there alive.”

“Too many hostages who were taken alive — were murdered in captivity,” she added. “We must save every living soul! This is our mission. We cannot leave them behind.”

Herut Nimrodi, the mother of captive soldier Tamir Nimrodi, told AP that “I really wanted to believe that there is still a chance to reach a second stage without renewing this war. But it feels like my building of hope has collapsed, and I have no idea what to do next.”

She said that while she’s terrified of what’s to come, she won’t stop fighting to see him again.

“Please, keep strong, survive,” she said, addressing him. “So there’s a chance for us to meet once more.”

Meanwhile, separate protests were held in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Tuesday evening by anti-government protesters rallying against the government’s attempts to fire both Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.

Thousands crammed into Tel Aviv’s Habima Square as protesters broadcast the words “Mr. Abandonment” on the adjacent building. Speakers at the event include top former security officials, including ex-Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, former Israel Police commissioner Roni Alsheich and former Shin Bet head Yoram Cohen.

And in Jerusalem, several dozen protesters marched toward the Knesset Tuesday afternoon, part of a larger set of demonstrations planned for the evening and Wednesday over the planned cabinet vote to fire Ronen Bar.

Shikma Bressler, one of the country’s leading activists in the anti-judicial overhaul movement, urged Israelis to take to the streets and demonstrate for the future of the country and the lives of the hostages.

“The public understands that there is a loss of control. This is beyond the fight for democracy,” she said during an interview with Channel 12 news. “The security of the State of Israel is at stake.”