At rally, ex-hostage urges return of all captives as deal’s 1st phase draws to close

Weekly pro-hostage deal and anti-government rallies drew thousands of Israelis Saturday night, as the 42nd and final day of the Gaza ceasefire deal’s first phase came to a close.

Meanwhile, the families of Shlomo Mantzur and Itzik Elgarat — two of four slain captives returned to Israel early Thursday in the final hostage release of the first phase — announced their loved ones would be buried in private ceremonies on Sunday and Monday, respectively. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, Mantzur was murdered on October 7, 2023, while the other three were murdered in captivity.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that “following the return, to eternal rest, of Ohad Yahalomi, Itzik Elgarat, Shlomo Mantzur and Tsahi Idan… we will hold a central rally at Hostages Square to demand the return of all 59 captives until day 50 of the agreement,” a week from Sunday on March 9.

“The window of opportunity is now,” said the forum. “If a deal does not materialize in the coming days, we’ll be sentencing the hostages to death and lose the ability to locate and retrieve the slain captives.”

The rally at Hostages Square included a video message from Sasha Troufanov, who was released from captivity in Gaza on February 15. Troufanov told that he “can’t process the fact that I’m here and there are still people who haven’t returned.”

“Captivity is an insane mind game — you’re always faced with the thought that ‘if I don’t get out in this deal, there probably won’t be another deal I’ll get out in,’” said Troufanov.

Referring to ubiquitous posters featuring photographs of hostages, Troufanov said, “The fact that they’re here next to me, but they’re not — they’re just pictures — is something that is difficult for me, and I’m sure it’s more difficult for their families.”

Now that he’s on the side of those yearning for their loved ones’ release, “Suddenly, I understand what it’s like, and it’s overwhelming for me,” he said.

“Isn’t it time to release the people there?” he asked. “The people who pray so hard to come home?”

“When I talk about returning the hostages, I mean all of them — living and dead,” he said. “Every family wants closure.”

He asked the the public, “Don’t let feelings of revenge, anger and rage get the upper hand over values of unity, fraternity and sanctity of human life.”

Troufanov thanked “each and every one of the people who have supported, helped and wished for my return home — I’m here thanks to you.”

The rally also featured speeches from Michel Illouz, father of 26-year-old Guy Illouz, who died in Hamas captivity after being kidnapped from the Re’im-area Nova music festival; Liron Oberlander, cousin of hostage Rom Braslavski, who worked as a guard at the rave; Roni Adar, sister of slain captive Tamir Adar, who was killed in battle against invading terrorists and snatched to Gaza; and Mor Korngold, brother of Tal Shoham, one of six living captives Hamas released last Saturday.

Also speaking was Ilan Dalal, father of Guy Gilboa Dalal, who was abducted at the Nova rave. The families of Dalal and fellow hostage Evyatar David received a sign of life last from their loved ones following last Saturday’s hostage release, when Hamas published a video of them watching the other captives be freed.

Ilan Dalal later told Channel 12 the video was “the best sign of life I could ask for, but on the other hand, there’s nothing more cruel.”

“It’s not surprising because it’s Hamas, but it’s a new level of torture,” he said.

In tandem with the demonstration at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, smaller rallies were held across the country, including in Jerusalem, Ness Ziona, Haifa, Hadera and other locales such as the Sha’ar Hanegev Junction in the south.

In Tel Aviv, a separate, anti-government rally was held on Begin Road, in front of the IDF headquarters, where hundreds of protesters marched to from a demonstration at Habima Square.. The rally usually draws around 1,000 people, including several hostage families and opposition lawmakers, and regularly features philippics by Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, who on Saturday denounced the “sadistic government.”

On Friday, The New York Times published a wide-ranging profile piece on Zangauker, referring to the “anguished mother” from Sderot as “Netanyahu’s fiercest foe” and “an unlikely enemy of Israeli government.”

Another harsh critic of Netanyahu who has regularly spoken at the Begin Road rallies at Dani Elgarat, the younger brother of slain hostage Itzik Elgarat. Following the return of Itzik’s body, Dani Elgarat called for a public revolt against the government.

Speaking at Saturday’s demonstration, Dani Elgarat accused Netanyahu of abandoning his older brother.

“Bibi, Bibi,” he said, using the premier’s nickname, “you beat me in the battle for the life of my brother, but we will beat you in the fight for the life of the country.”

“We won’t let you sacrifice the country on the altar of your rule,” he said.

“You, Benjamin Netanyahu, built up and armed Hamas. You put the country to sleep. You said Hamas was deterred as it has never been,” he added.

He also accused the premier of cynically using the deaths in captivity of Shiri Bibas and her young sons Ariel and Kfir, whose bodies were returned to Israel last week.

“You used the blood of the Bibas family for your public relations,” he said, as the crowd jeers. “Shame on you! Go home! Enough!”

Affiliated anti-government groups have said they would commence a days-long civil disobedience campaign in Jerusalem on Sunday to demand Israel “rise to phase two” of the hostage deal.

The deal’s first phase saw Hamas release 33 women, children, civilian men over 50, and those deemed “humanitarian cases” in return for some 1,900 Palestinian prisoners. Twenty-five of the hostages were freed alive, and eight were deceased. Hamas also released five Thai nationals not included in the deal.

Netanyahu’s right-wing flank has threatened to topple the government should Israel proceed to the second phase, which would see Hamas release remaining living hostages and require Israel to withdraw from Gaza.

Talks for the second phase began in Cairo on Thursday, after Netanyahu refused to begin them on February 3 — day 16 of the first phase — as stipulated by the agreement. On Saturday, talks appeared at an impasse, with the Israeli negotiators having gone home and Hamas saying it rejected an Israeli offer to extend the first phase rather than proceed to the second.

Romi Gonen, who returned in the first hostage release of the current phase, wrote on Instagram Saturday that it was the “the first Shabbat since I came back that none of our brothers and sisters returned.”

“There’s a tightness in my throat,” she wrote. “Fifty-nine hostages are still held captive and waiting to return home.”

“I was there, I know — they have no time,” said Gonen, adding that the deal and releases “must not stop.”

“It’s sad that even after hostages have come out and the entire world saw their state, we still need to fight for the obvious. Continue to fight, continue to pray — in the end, good always wins.”

‘Abandoned to die’

The families forum announced on Saturday that Shlomo Mantzur, 86, would be laid to rest Sunday in his home community of Kibbutz Kissufim.

According to the announcement, the family invited Israelis to stand along the road with flags to accompany Mantzur. The funeral procession will depart from Rishon Lezion at 9:45 a.m. and head south to Kissufim, according to the statement.

The procession is slated to pass at Yad Mordechai Junction around 10:45 a.m., at Sa’ad Junction at 11 a.m., and Gama Junction and Kissufim Junction around 11:15 a.m. The funeral will begin at 12:30 p.m. in Kibbutz Kissufim.

“The public is invited to the eulogy ceremony and the procession to the cemetery,” the statement said. “At the family’s request, the funeral will be closed to the media.”

The family of Itzik Elgarat, 68 when kidnapped, said his funeral would be held Monday at 2 p.m. outside his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, from which he was abducted on Oct. 7, 2023.

“Our Itzik was abandoned to die in Hamas captivity,” the announcement said.

The service will be open to the public and media, but the burial will be private, according to the announcement.

Elgarat and Mantzur were each snatched from their homes on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 59 hostages, including 58 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.

The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that in the early weeks of the war.

Eight hostages have been rescued from captivity by troops alive, and the bodies of 41 have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors, and the body of a soldier who was killed in 2014.

The body of another soldier killed in 2014, Lt. Hadar Goldin, is still being held by Hamas and is counted among the 59 hostages.