Israel’s Hostages in Gaza: A Matter of Life and Death
People gather near a fire during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and to call for the release of hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday.
These figures were updated on Saturday after the news that Elad Katzir was murdered in Gaza and his body was recently returned to Israel in a military operation. “He will perhaps be remembered as a victim of hostilities, but a more precise term would be ‘victim of abandonment.’ He was abandoned on October 7 and he was abandoned for 183 days in captivity during which he could have been brought back alive,” his sister Carmit Palti Katzir wrote Saturday.
Every day that there is no hostage deal, the physical and mental health of the hostages are harmed. Every day that passes is torture for each and every one of them and a living hell for their families, who are going crazy with worry, sadness, pain and yearning.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ultimately responsible more than anyone else is for their situation. His long-term policy is what enabled their kidnapping in the first place. His utter failure since the massacre makes him primarily responsible for the fact that they are still there.
Woe to the families and woe to the hostages who are dependent on Netanyahu of all Israel’s leaders to bring them back. Unfortunately for the hostages, they are in the worst possible hands. This further emphasizes the burning, existential necessity to replace him.