Family members of hostages held in Gaza sharply criticized the government's conduct at a press conference last Wednesday. The family members claimed they had asked for meetings with government officials and the cabinet, but their requests were left unanswered.
Danny Elgarat, brother of Yitzhak Elgarat, who was taken hostage from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz in the Gaza border region, shared that after Hamas circulated a propaganda video claiming his brother was killed in captivity, no one from the government contacted him.
"They informed me on Saturday and showed me the video. No one – not from the cabinet, not from the government, not from the prime minister, and not his wife, I don't know, maybe she didn't have time either - no one picked up the phone to ask me what was happening,” Elgarat said.
“They didn't call to ask, 'Danny, what's happening, how are you with the news you received? How's the family? Is everything okay? Do you need anything?'" adding that he did not receive any official notification.
"What's the connection between the government and war? They said it before," he said, mocking Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf from the United Torah Judaism political party when he asked this question in a February interview.
"I thought I was special, I asked around several families whose sons were killed and their bodies were still there. Do you know how many times they contacted them? You're right – zero," he said.
"Last week I was in Denmark. I sat with the prime minister [Mette Frederiksen] for an hour with tears in my eyes, and she sat with me and we talked like friends," he said. "It's a country slightly larger than Israel, and we sit and talk there. To meet my prime minister, I have to walk five days on foot to Jerusalem."
Demanding accountability
"Call us," Elgarat demanded. "We shouldn't have to walk five days to Jerusalem, march to Paris Square, send letters, or protest in the Kirya – no. Let them stand here, under the Leonardo da Vinci 13 building, and say: 'We came, we want to see you.' That's how it should be, that should be the priority - not the other way around. Call and ask us to come, we shouldn’t need to chase after them.”
Simona Steinbrecher, mother of 30-year-old Doron, who is also still captive in Gaza, also spoke at the conference, saying, "A month ago, Hamas released a video featuring my little girl. I go to sleep every night with this image. The war cabinet - for weeks we've been asking for a meeting to receive reliable information about the negotiations, and the request is repeatedly denied. They leave us like this; we rely on the media."
Gaya, daughter of Ofer Calderon, 53, who was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz, criticized the government, saying, "Dear cabinet, where are you? Have we the families become transparent? Can't you tell the truth? Have you abandoned them? You have redlines, and within those lines, you determine their fate. Are you committed to them?"
Doron Peretz, father of 22-year-old Capt. Daniel Peretz, who was killed on October 7 and whose body is still being held in Gaza, also spoke, saying, "Daniel enlisted less than ten years ago and volunteered for combat. On [October 7,] he did everything possible to defend the homeland and save as many people as he could. Yesterday we lost a comrade," he said.
The family waited for almost 160 days to be told that he had been killed on October 7: "not knowing anything about our son except that he was wounded. We waited. They said there would be a deal one way or another. There's no deal, no military pressure, no breakthrough. What's happening? We demand transparency."