Commemoration in Tel Aviv

Families of the hostages: “Hope not lost”

(Bild: AP/Ariel Schalit)

On the eve of Israel's Independence Day, around 100,000 people attended a rally in Tel Aviv to remember the fate of the 132 hostages held hostage by the Islamist Hamas. The event was held under the motto "Our hope is not yet lost".

For many, Monday's commemoration of the Israeli soldiers killed and the victims of terror in Israel was an emotional day. "We have gone from a united community to a broken and grieving one," said former hostage Ella Ben Ami at the rally. Ben Ami's father is still held by Hamas. The day of remembrance was full of memories of 101 members of their kibbutz who were killed, neighbors and friends. "Seven of them are in Gaza and have no place of burial, their families cannot weep at their graves."

(Bild: AP/Ariel Schalit)

Another speaker accused the Israeli government of failing to prevent the terrorist attack. "The government, which was supposed to protect them with the utmost vigilance, has no right to talk about the price of their return. (...) There is no price for the lives of the hostages."

Many participants in the rally carried Israeli flags printed with a yellow ribbon, a symbol of the hostages whose relatives and friends have been waiting for more than seven months for their return.

Celebrations in the shadow of war
Israel's Independence Day celebrations this year are overshadowed by the terrorist attack on October 7 and the war in the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a pre-recorded speech that this Independence Day would be like no other. "The war rages on. It was forced upon us on that dark day of terrible massacre."

On October 7, around 1,200 people were killed and 250 others taken hostage in the unprecedented massacre by Hamas and other Islamist groups in Israel. The terrorist attack triggered the Gaza war, in which Israel is taking action against Hamas, which is entrenched in the middle of residential areas and in numerous tunnels. The high number of civilian casualties and the humanitarian catastrophe for the Palestinian civilian population have also triggered sharp international criticism of Israel's actions.