Protesters block Tel Aviv highway, demanding Israel ‘not endanger’ hostage deal
Yarden Bibas’s sister says he ‘holds onto hope’ he’ll be reunited with family; Ofer Calderon says conditions of his captivity worsened, became ‘brutal’ after November 2023 truce
Protesters demanding the release of hostages blocked the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv on Monday night, seething at the government as the ceasefire-hostage release deal in Gaza appeared to be faltering, and as Hamas said it would delay the next hostage release until further notice because Israel was ostensibly violating the terms of the deal.
“We demand the government of Israel not fall victim to the terror group’s spin and ensure that the door that was opened will not be shut,” the Hostages Families Forum said in a statement late Monday.
“The difficult images from this past Saturday” — when an emaciated Or Levy, Eli Sharabi, and Ohad Ben-Ami were freed from Gaza — “leave no room for doubt — this government cannot in any way delay the second stage, and definitely not endanger the deal,” the forum added.
The protesters stormed onto the highway at the tail end of a gathering outside the Tel Aviv Museum, now dubbed Hostages Square, to mark the 24th birthday of hostage Alon Ohel, a day after his family received the first sign of life from him following more than 16 months in captivity.
Ohel, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, is not on the list of hostages slated to be freed in the first stage of the deal. Seventeen more captives are scheduled to be returned in the coming weeks, nine of them alive, with an additional 59 still held hostage, a figure that includes 34 confirmed dead by Israel.
On Sunday, Alon’s mother, Idit, revealed that a hostage who had recently been freed from Gaza reported that her son was being held underground in a Hamas tunnel, bound, starved and suffering from untreated shrapnel wounds to his shoulder, arm, and now-partially blind eye.
Addressing those gathered, Idit Ohel slammed the government for appearing to drag its feet in talks to move ahead with the next potential phases of the ceasefire deal — which must still be negotiated — that could see her son returned.
“How, after the sights you have seen, after the testimonies you have heard from survivors of captivity, do you let this reality continue?” she demanded. “How did the security cabinet not convene yesterday to advance the return of all the next hostages? What are you waiting for, for heaven’s sake?”
Addressing her son directly, Idit said that “more and more painful puzzle pieces are constructing a picture of the nightmarish reality of your life” since October 7, 2023.
“We hear of constant starvation, of physical and psychological abuse. But also of your strength,” she said. “Your determination and bravery. The humanity that defines you. Your musical notes, Aloni, continue to be played. Your light continues to shine.”
Idit said that after receiving the sign of life from her son, her family was contacted by senior officials from around the world, but “there was one government whose representatives didn’t bother to speak with us — the government of Israel.”
In English, she asked US President Donald Trump to “do everything in your power to ensure that this deal continues.”
Addressing those gathered in Hostages Square on Monday night, Idit implored them to “keep shouting. Keep demanding the return of every single one of them. They need to come home — they need to come home now!”
Meanwhile, Ofer Calderon, who was freed from Gaza on February 1, revealed on Monday that he was “held in tunnels without seeing daylight, had no access to media, experienced severe hunger conditions, and went entire months without showering or receiving proper care.”
In a statement from the released captive shared by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, Calderon — who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz with two of his children — said that “immediately after the first deal [in November 2023], the conditions of my captivity and those of many other hostages severely deteriorated and became brutal.”
During that weeklong truce, his children Sahar and Erez were freed from captivity as part of a deal that saw most of the women and children taken hostage returned to Israel.
“We must not stop the current deal and must continue working to free all the hostages,” Calderon added. “Hamas is a cruel enemy who will not hesitate to harm the hostages left behind. We must get everyone out as quickly as possible.”
Yarden Bibas asks, Where was the army?
Earlier Monday, the sister of freed hostage Yarden Bibas said that he was still clinging to hope that his wife Shiri and his sons, Ariel and Kfir, are alive.
In an interview with Channel 12 news, Ofri Bibas said that the Hamas gunmen holding Yarden captive initially lied to him and told him that his family was safe in Tel Aviv, and “he believed them.”
In November 2023, Hamas told Yarden — and announced publicly — that Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir were dead. Israel has not confirmed their deaths, though it has expressed “grave concern” for their fate. The three are slated to be returned in the first stage of the current ceasefire deal, and Israel has not protested the fact that they have yet to be released, as it did when female civilian Arbel Yehoud was not freed. Under the deal, bodies are to be returned last in the current phase.
Ofri said that Yarden emerged from Gaza when he was freed on February 1 “with an understanding very similar to ours.”
“He understands that there is fear — fear for their lives, but he knows that there is no certainty, and he holds onto the hope,” she said. “And we’ve held onto [that hope] for 15 months and we continue to hold onto it, and continue to expect them and to wait for them here at home.”
Nevertheless, she said, “he needs the certainty. We all do. Closure. We are asking for that from a place of still clinging to hope. We’re not giving up hope for a second, especially now that he’s here with us. But yes, we want them home.”
Under the terms of the ceasefire-hostage release deal, on the last day of the 42-day first stage, expected on March 1, Hamas will return the bodies of any hostages slated for release during that stage. The terror group has told Israel that eight of the 33 hostages on the initial list are no longer alive.
Speaking soon after Hamas announced on Monday that it was delaying Saturday’s scheduled release of hostages until further notice, Ofri said: “What’s happening now is very scary — there are a lot of fears about this stage. And certainly about whether the next stage comes to fruition.”
Asked whether Yarden is aware that his wife and sons have become a kind of symbol of the cruelty of the Hamas terrorists, she said, “He is starting to understand it. He understands that he’s no longer anonymous, that there is a lot of interest in the family. That’s not easy for him to deal with.”
She said that while Yarden is beginning to speak a little louder, and has retained his humor, “there’s a lot of anger. A lot of questions about where the army was” on October 7, when he was kidnapped separately from his family in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
“It’s still hard for me to believe that he’s here,” she added. “But we miss Shiri and the boys. I so want this deal to be completed. This framework was so complicated from the start. And we see that it can blow up at any second.”
