In the week since 20 hostages returned alive from captivity in Gaza, Israel has been caught between joy and grief. Families rejoiced at emotional reunions broadcast nationwide, then wept as the bodies of hostages who were killed in Gaza were brought back for burial.
On Saturday night, thousands gathered at Hostages’ Square in Tel Aviv, where relatives of those still held — both living and dead — pleaded with the government not to lose urgency in the campaign to bring them all home. Despite speeches by world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, families said the war for the hostages’ return is far from over.
Among those attending was Rubi Chen, the father of Sgt. Itay Chen, an Israeli soldier kidnapped and killed in Gaza whose body has not yet been returned. He said the week’s emotional highs and lows have left families shattered.
“The current situation is not good,” Chen said. “There are many obstacles to completing this deal and closing this sad chapter. We, as a family, are in pieces on the floor, and we cannot gather them until we get Itay back.”
Chen described the emotional torment of waiting for news:
“You find yourself expecting the worst phone call of your life — and feeling disappointed when it doesn’t come,” he said. “It’s a terrible feeling. We hope the story of ‘Team Peretz’ will finally end. The government must act urgently. Returning the fallen for burial in Israel can save their families’ lives. We’re like walking dead.”
Chen said mistrust between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas is blocking progress.
“There’s a lack of trust, and both sides accuse each other of violating terms. That doesn’t help,” he said. “In Ron Arad’s case, there was a window of opportunity to bring him home, and we all know the tragedy that resulted from a tactical decision back then. I hope the government understands that every hostage in Gaza is a whole world. An international mechanism is good, but now the U.N. Security Council must give a mandate to find all the remaining hostages.”
Standing before a supportive crowd at the Tel Aviv rally, Chen urged lawmakers to keep their focus.
“We are still fighting,” he said. “Members of Knesset have already gone back to their prewar political chatter. They must focus only on bringing back the remaining hostages. I wish they would learn from ‘Team Peretz’ how to behave.”
'My son needs to be here'
Yael Adar, whose son Tamir Adar was a member of the kibbutz Nir Oz emergency squad, has been fighting alongside Chen for two years. Her son went out to defend the kibbutz on Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists stormed the community. He was killed in battle and his body was taken to Gaza, where it remains held.
“I see people saying, ‘And the sons shall return to their borders.’ That’s not right,” Adar said. “It should be, ‘And some of the sons shall return.’ This deal is partial, without guarantees for how it will be implemented. My son needs to be here. His wife, his children, and our family need to say goodbye to him.”
Adar said she was pained to hear public statements suggesting that Israel can now “breathe again.”
“It’s as if they came to treat a car crash, rescued the living, and left the bodies on the road,” she said. “From the day I learned my son had fallen, I’ve been fighting for them. What’s happening is wrong.”
After two years of struggle, she said she no longer believes in official promises.
“Again and again, I’ve seen promises turn into empty words,” she said. “We were told Gaza’s reconstruction wouldn’t begin until the bodies were returned, but reality is stronger than declarations. The trickle of fallen hostages returning will soon become a trickle of rockets. Every citizen should care. We were promised all the hostages would return and Hamas would be defeated — that hasn’t happened.”
Adar warned that signing an agreement for 48 hostages, without ensuring all their return, is a dangerous precedent.
“We’re a week into this and still don’t know who’s coming back,” she said. “It’s a national danger. The government must make sure every last hostage is returned — soon.”
Eleven years of struggle
For Ayelet Goldin, the sister of Lt. Hadar Goldin, the fight has lasted more than a decade. Her brother’s body has been held by Hamas since 2014. Goldin addressed the Tel Aviv rally, her words carrying the weight of 11 years of exhaustion and determination.
“The agreement that brought 20 miracles — 20 people back from the abyss — did not protect the fallen hostages equally,” she said. “Now, the hostages are at Hamas’s mercy. There are hostages being abandoned, and we have gone to battle for them — a battle for their return, a battle for our values, a battle to live up to our promise: to bring everyone home.”
Goldin called it “the hardest and least glamorous battle,” one with no hugs, only bowed heads and final honors.
“This is the last battle,” she said. “You promised everyone. We promised ourselves everyone. Be with us. Don’t fall asleep on watch.”
As the rally ended, Goldin said the families will not stop until all are home.
“Until everyone returns, Israeli society cannot be proud,” she said. “They’re trying to delegitimize us because people are celebrating the return of the living hostages. But we will prevail — because this is who we are.”