Israelis across the country took to the streets tonight to call for the return of the remaining hostages through a deal, the Hostages and Families Forum said in a statement just two days before the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks.
“The hostages have no time to wait — every day in the Hamas hell is an eternity where the captives face immediate danger of death,” the forum said in the statement.
Liat Atzili Benin was captured by Hamas on Oct. 7 and released in a prisoner swap in November after 54 days in captivity, the forum said. Upon her release, she learned her husband, Aviv, was murdered that day and that his body is still being held in Gaza.
“I wish that was the extent of my loss, but I lost many more things that day,” Benin said in a statement provided by the forum. Prior to the attacks, she said her “anchors in life” were her husband, her kibbutz — Nir Oz — and her work at the Nofei HaBsor school.
“Now, these three things are gone,” Benin said. The school reopened on Sept. 1, “but Aviv is gone, the kibbutz is still in ruins, and our small community is being torn apart from within.”
“How can one continue to live after what happened? How can a community mourn so many friends? Opinions are divided, souls are bruised, anger is high, and a sense of helplessness is paralyzing,” Benin wrote, adding “there is one thing our community agrees on without dispute. We all know, from young to old, that our most urgent mission is an uncompromising struggle to return the remaining 101 hostages in the Gaza Strip, 29 of whom are from Nir Oz.”
Benin said her wish for next year, when the Jewish new year rolls around again is that she will “sit on the porch of my new home in Nir Oz.”
When she attends the holiday gathering on the kibbutz’s dining room lawn, “everyone will be there, those who returned to live in Nir Oz and those who built their homes elsewhere. The guests of honor will be the hostages who were returned.”
