Hostage families caravan to Gaza border, breach fence, call out to loved ones with loudspeakers
On Wednesday, the Hostage Families Forum representing family members of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas led a convoy of vehicles from the Hostage Square in Tel Aviv to the Gaza border.
The convoy arrived at Kibbutz Beeri Wednesday evening, with some vehicles pulling trailers carrying burned-out skeletons of vehicles destroyed during the October 7 Hamas massacre.
According to The Jerusalem Post, over 300 vehicles participated in the convoy.
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On Thursday morning, several of the family members who had approached the border area broke through a perimeter fence and ran towards the Gaza border barrier, where several of them used megaphones and loudspeakers to call out towards their loved ones being held in Gaza.
Video from the incident showed around two dozen hostage family members, many wearing shirts with bloody handprints, and carrying signs of the hostages, rushing through the fence and towards the security barrier.
The Hostage Family Forum released a statement saying, “The families in their great pain breached the fence to Gaza and ran toward the Gaza Strip to get as close to their loved ones as possible.”
The Forum also blamed the government for failing to reach an agreement for the release of the remaining hostages.
The group of people spent about 20 minutes in between the perimeter fence and the security barrier before IDF soldiers asked them to return to Israeli territory.
The cousin of hostage Carmel Gat, Gil Dickman, told Ynet news, “I'm still not sure it was the right decision not to continue to Gaza. Next time we will be more, hundreds, thousands — and we will not stop.”
Omri Shtivi, a relative of hostage Ivan Shtivi, said, “If the government won’t bring them back, then we will. If the government won’t make a deal, then we will get them.”
Dickman said that the security forces told them just a few minutes earlier there had been mortar fire in the area, and they “were ducks on a shooting range.”
Hebrew news site N12 reported that one of the police officers appealed to the families of the hostages, calling on them to return to the area of Kibbutz Nirim.
“I cried like a little girl,” the officer said. “There is no one who identifies more than us.”
The officer also told them, “You are endangering our lives and yours. Please don't make us use force. We don't want to do it, you are our brothers.”
Ella Ben Ami, daughter of Ohad Ben Ami, cried out to her father, “Daddy! I love you, I will do anything to hug you again. Hang on, don't break. It's hard but you'll be fine! You will come back and we will all hug you! Dad, we're all waiting for you here. You are so missed, missed by all of us. You have to survive it to the end.”
The parents of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin also spoke over the loudspeaker.
“It’s day 328. We are all here. All the families of the remaining 107 hostages,” said Rachel Goldberg-Polin in English. She also told him that she was praying a daily blessing for him, based on the Aaronic Blessing from Numbers 6:24-26.
“May God bless you and keep you. May God’s light shine upon you, and may God be gracious to you. May you feel God’s Presence within you always, and may you find peace,” Goldberg-Polin said.
Many of the family members condemned the government for creating obstacles in the negotiations, such as the demand to retain control of the Philadelphi Corridor.
Of the 107 remaining hostages in Gaza, at least 33 have been confirmed as dead according to the IDF.
This article was originally published by All Israel News.
ALL ISRAEL NEWS is based in Jerusalem and is a trusted source of news, analysis and information from Israel to our Christian friends around the world.
