President Herzog speaking at World Economic Forum in Davos
( World Economic Forum)
UN Secretary Genera Antonio Guterres met for the first time in Davos on Thursday, with women who were held captive by Hamas in Gaza and were freed in the last hostage exchange deal and with the daughter of a hostage still being held by the terrorists.
Read more:
President Issac Herzog also attended the World Economic Forum in Davos and spoke of the urgent need to secure the release of the hostages abducted in the Hamas massacre of October 7. Israelis marked the first birthday of the youngest hostage, baby Kfir Bibas, who was not among the women and children freed in November. Hamas says it is no longer holding children, and Kfir, his 4-year-old brother and their mother were killed in an Israeli air strike, though it has released no images confirming their deaths.
5 View gallery
President Issac Herzog holds up the picture of baby Kfir Bibas abducted by Hamas terrorists, who is turned one year old in captivity
(Photo: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP)
"His whereabouts are unknown," Herzog said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, sitting next to a photograph of the baby. "I call upon the entire universe to work endlessly to free Kfir and all the hostages."
Guterres surprised the Israeli women in their meeting when he pulled out of his pocket, the dog tag made to represent the hostages and demand their return home. "The disk is in the right pocket of my coat, where my hand is usually, I take it with me everywhere to remember all the abductees at every moment," he said.
The Secretary Genera had come out forcefully against Israel's war on Hamas, demanding an end to the fighting and claiming Israel was indiscriminately killing Palestinians. In his meeting with the freed hostages, however he said the atrocities committed by Hamas including mass rapes, must be investigated, after UN Women, had long kept silent on the matter.
5 View gallery
Women freed from Hamas captivity meet UN Secretary General in Davos
(Photo: Organization of the families of hostages )
The freed Israelis recounted the horrors of their captivity in front of business leaders, ECOs of major international firms and senior politicians including Pfizer CEO Albert Burla, Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon; Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies; Nicola Mendelsohn, a top executive at Meta; Alexander Taylor, the CEO of Cox Enterprises; Martin Sorrell, the founder and former CEO of WPP; Bill Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital Management; Adam Selipsky, CEO of AWS; Amir Yaron, Governor of the Bank of Israel, Eytan Stibbe and more.
Nili Margalit, an emergency room nurse by profession, who was abducted from her home in Nir Oz and was held captive by Hamas for 55 days spoke of the day when terrorists entered her home and took her captive. "On October 7, two Hamas terrorists broke into my house. They entered my bedroom and threatened me with a knife. When I was kidnapped, I was taken straight into an underground tunnel where I was held for 55 days until I was released. But most of the people who were in the tunnels with me, are still held deep inside, scared and injured.
"By profession, I am a nurse in a children's emergency room, and I realized that there, too, I have to take care of those around me. But without medical supplies, this was an almost impossible task. In addition to injuries and sickness, there is not enough air to breathe and not enough food," she said.
"The body is so weak that any disease can kill you. Imagine what it's like for an 80-year-old man with heart disease who can't hear and see well, and sleeps on a mattress on the floor. I stand here before you today to testify about the hell I experienced. I am here to make their voice heard: speak up and tell their story and make sure you do everything you can to bring about their release. The hostages could die every day! Every hour is dangerous for them," she said.
Moran Stela Yanai, who was abducted from the Nova festival, also told her story and the moments of anxiety, breakdown and crisis she experienced during her days in captivity. "I lost everything: control over my life, my freedom, my identity, my self. If not all the hostages return, every citizen in the world should now be afraid to go dancing at festivals! I was released, but I promised my friends who were left behind in captivity that I would do everything in my power to bring them back.
"Last night, I received a message about the murder of two of my friends there, friends I was with during the dark days in Gaza. The terrorists watch television, which means that everything that happens in the world has an immediate effect on the daily lives of the hostages, and that's why I'm turning to you, I believe that you can put pressure and bring an end to this suffering," she said.
"One day we played cards and even laughed, when everything turned upside down - one of the terrorists got angry with me and put the gun to my head, he didn't shoot, but I was sure I wouldn't make it through the night. The next day, the hunger and despair were unbearable, I wanted to cry, but it wasn't allowed. I couldn't stop, so I banged my head against the wall, the terrorist came in, beat me and took my food. Every day was unexpected, there was a day when I was very sick, I had a high fever and I didn't stop vomiting. We didn't have medicine or water and I started hallucinating. They didn't care, they didn't take care of me and I lost hope, I thought I was going to die.
The day the bombing stopped and the ceasefire came into effect, they transferred us and I hoped I would be released, but then I felt a pull on my shirt and I heard the terrorists say 'not Stela, Not now', for them it was a cruel game, another way to break my spirit.
"They took me to a house, I was there alone surrounded by more than ten terrorists, they told me, 'You will stay in Gaza forever, where is your army? No one is looking for you.' She said the terrorists took out their anger on the captives and when they were pleased, there was a moment of reprieve.
"What happens in the world has a big impact, so the world and all of us have a responsibility. I believe that we can bring an end to suffering, I believe that you can press for the release of the hostages, I ask you to do everything you can so that the miracle that happened to me happens to them as well and that everyone returns home safely and quickly."