729 days. In massive red figures, the count has continued since October 7, 2023 at the Otages forum site and missing people. Of the 251 people kidnapped during the unprecedented attacks of Hamas in the Israeli soil, 47 are still preserved in the Gaza Strip. Among them, 27 are considered dead by the Israeli army.
However, the hope of an imminent end of its captivity has never been so great. This Friday, October 3, Hamas said he was willing to launch “all hostages” within the framework of the 20 -point plan presented by Donald Trump who is supposed to end the war of Israeli mortal reprisals in Gaza. The Palestinian Islamist movement said it was ready for “immediate negotiations” to discuss the “details” of their liberation.
While saying “preparing for immediate implementation,” Israel continues its offensive in Gaza-Ville. Despite Donald Trump’s calls and hostage families to “bombard immediately.”
“President Trump’s request that ends immediately in the war is essential to prevent hostages from undergoing serious and irreversible damage,” said the forum of Families of Hosagos, the main Israeli group that represents hostage families, in a statement. “We call Netanyahu Prime Minister (Benjamin) to immediately begin effective and fast negotiations to take all our hostages home,” he added.
As soon as the light was made on the scale of the terrorist operation after having killed 1,219 people in Israel, relatives of captive people had their own release. For its part, the Israeli government, who killed at least 66,000 people in Gaza and immersed the enclave in a disastrous humanitarian situation, was more ambiguous for two years.
The launch of the hostages, a late -declared goal
On October 7, 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu declared war in Hamas, an “abominable enemy”, who swore “destroy” “with all his power.” Hot, his words for hostages were succinct, however, notice the world. “I tell Hamas: you are responsible for their well -being. Israel will attack anyone who affects even a head of the head,” said the head of the Israeli government in his speech to the day of the attack.
That same day, Israel retaliates for air attacks against Gaza and declared two days later the “full seat” of the Palestinian enclave. At the end of October, the Israeli army launched its land raid towards Gaza-Ville. The families of the hostages were worried about the lives of their relatives trapped in the Gaza tunnels since this first intensification.
“We demand that no operation, which endangers the lives of our loved ones, is carried out and that everything that is done takes into account the well -being of our loved ones,” said a spokesman for host families after a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu on October 28, 2023. Before adding: “It is the responsibility of the Israeli government.”
It was only at the end of this interview, twenty days after the terrorist attacks, that the prime minister, affected by the “parents in duel”, established the second objective for his bloody offensive in Gaza: “The return of hostages to the house.”
“It is not a secondary mission but of primary importance,” said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Speech change
Yoav Gallant attacked, such as the Head of Government, for an International Arrest Order for War Crimes and Crimes against the Humanity of the ICC, was fired a year later, in November 2024, in a context of tensions with Benjamin Netanyahu. The minister believed in particular that a hostage release agreement with Hamas was processing the continuation of the war began a year ago. A position rejected by the Israeli prime minister, while 100 hostages were still in the hands of Hamas.
For long months, Benjamin Netanyahu continued to hit in his speeches his desire to free hostages. “For a long time, I wanted to demonstrate that there was a balance,” said Frédérique Schillo, historian, specialist in Israel and international relations. “Then his speech changed, after the rupture of Alto El Fuego in March 2025,” he adds.
“Obviously he never said that he would abandon the hostages, but his detractors consider that his front flight in the military option necessarily puts their lives in danger,” abounds David Rigoulet -rez, a researcher at the French Institute of Strategic Analysis and specialist in the Middle East, contacted by BFMTV. The Prime Minister is remarkably pushed to ambiguity for the right end of his government. Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Finance, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister of Security of Israel, make Hamas eradicate their priority.
“We have to tell the truth, the return of hostages is not the most important,” said Bezalel Smotrich on April 22. This same minister called “Rotundo diplomatic failure” as the 20 -point plan of Donald Trump, which establishes an end of the war in Gaza.
A feeling of abandonment
If the relatives of the hostages have never stopped asking for more government commitment, they gradually regretted abandonment. On the day of breaking the second high Israel’s fire on March 18, intense bombings killed more than 300 Palestinians in one day, the forum criticized “the government’s decision to sacrifice the 59 captives.”
“The families of the hostages begged for some time to meet with the elected officials. Their calls remained unanswered, they underlined the organization. Today, it is clear: the elected officials did not meet (families) because they planned to sabotage the high fire.”
This anger intensified with the announcement, then the launch in mid-September, of the large-scale earthly offensive to take control of Gaza-Ville.
The demonstrations of monsters exploded in Israel. On August 18, a national day of demonstrations and strikes was held. According to the Hostage Families Forum, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv, one of the most important demonstrations since the beginning of the war.
During this manifestation, a father deplored the newspaper Los Tima de Israel feeling helpless. Hamas transmitted a video of his son, Rome Braslavski, at the end of July, his demacrated body that aroused emotion and outrage. “The whole country has seen, all leaders have seen, but the cabinet has chosen to extend the war and leave them, said Braslavski. My rom does not have time, hostages do not have time. To my dear Rom, stay strong, please. We love you.”
At the launch of the offensive, the des otages forum said they were “terrified” by their loved ones. Benjamin Netanyahu “makes everything so that there is no agreement and not to bring them back,” he deplored the officials of this organization. Since then, demonstrations have almost daily in Israel. The views are organized as mobilizations against the residence of the Prime Minister.
For the family forum, this intensification of the attacks is “an official statement of abandonment of hostages.” Each offensive, the latter can be killed under the bombs or executed by Hamas.
“For Benjamin Netanyahu, it is only likely that military pressure promoted its release. However, we have seen in the past that the rare exceptions, most of the hostage releases had occurred thanks to the negotiations,” said the specialist in the Middle East David Rigoulet-Rze.
The Chief of Cabinet himself warned the Israeli government the dangers of such an offensive. “The operations endanger the hostages, whose health is deteriorating,” Eyal Zamir wrote in a confidential note to the prime minister, revealed by the television channel Reshet 13. “The combatants of the Israeli army return to the same places without a political objective,” he added.
Hostage families and part of the opposition have long been accusing the prime minister to prolong the war to serve their own political interests.
“Many believe that their company will not rise”
The historian Frédérique Schillo points out two other “signals” that demonstrate the growing disinterest of the Israeli government for hostages in recent months. “The Ministry of Education has published an educational suitcase for teachers who do not mention hostages,” he explains.
In addition, “there is no official ceremony organized this year for the second anniversary of October 7. In a nation for which the duty of memory is constitutive, it is a sign of discomfort,” he abounds while specifying that in 2024 the families of the hostages had boycotted the official ceremony, organizing their side. “
In Israeli society, hostages are everywhere. In addition to the manifestations, the Israelis use pines daily or the yellow tape, Symbol of solidarity with the prisoners of Hamas. “In Israel, three quarters of public opinion are for the end of war and the return of hostages,” supports the specialist in international relations. Before concluding, worried: “There are many debates about the future of their society if the hostages are not released. Many believe that their society will not rise.”
Source: BFM TV
