“In captivity, I held imaginary conversations that gave me strength,” said released Hamas hostage Gabriela Leimberg.
“I created a dialogue with my loved ones, wove scenarios to stay optimistic, and imagined the day after. I thought about coming home.
“It’s hard for me to believe that the hostages still have hope and can imagine their return,” she added, speaking on Sunday at a press conference marking one year since the hostage deal that brought 81 Israeli citizens and 24 foreign nationals home.
“Captivity is hell – life could end at any moment – no one can prepare for those conditions,” she added.
“It’s continual suffering, and the only light is hope. I hope that still exists for [the remaining hostages], and that depends on us.”
Leimberg stressed the need for a hostage deal that would bring all 101 remaining hostages home. She explained that when she was released with her daughter and sister, they were sure that Luis Har and Fernando Marman, their family members who were held with them, would be released several days after them.
“More than 70 days went by until they were released in a [military] operation,” she said.
“A year ago, I, along with 104 other hostages, returned home in a deal. One hundred and five living hostages – more than any rescue operation could bring back.”
Families of hostages advocate for those not brought home
Yifat Zailer, whose cousin Shiri Bibas is still held in captivity along with her young sons, Ariel (5) and Kfir (1.5), and husband, Yarden, also spoke at the briefing.
“A year ago, we sat and watched the news each night. We sat and waited for the phone to ring and bring us the news that they are coming home tomorrow,” she said.
“We saw the hugs of those returning and the heart-wrenching meetings, the families reuniting, and our hearts filled with happiness and a twinge of jealousy.”
Zailer stressed that things could have been different had the November deal been stretched just one more day.
“Shiri, Kfir, and Ariel should have come back in that deal – in the next stage. What would have happened if we had waited just one more day? Just one more stage.”
“Shiri and the kids would have been home,” she said.
Zailer said they often hear people saying that her family must already be dead.
“Every day [we are] without certainty about their condition. As far as we are concerned, they are alive – barely surviving, abandoned to their deaths anew each day.”
“Every day, they could die – all of them, every hostage.”
Released hostage Danielle Aloni, who was freed in the November deal, asked how it could be that the government was able to close the first deal in two months but has not been able to reach another deal in over a year.
“How else can we convince those dealing with it of the urgency and immediacy needed?” she asked.
“[Monday] marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and we observe it while, in the darkness of Gaza’s tunnels, women are still being held.
“Every woman and man should wonder and fear what these women endure every day and every night. They are being harmed physically, sexually, and emotionally, their identities and dignity trampled each day anew.”
Released hostage Raz Ben Ami, whose husband, Ohad, is still held captive, said that “if they could only manage to understand what it is to be in subhuman conditions in the tunnels, surrounded by terrorists for 54 days – there is no way they would let the hostages stay there for 415 days.
“I searched Google for the definition of ‘absolute victory’ and realized that this phrase, ‘absolute victory,’ which is presented to us as the elimination of Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities alongside the release of our hostages, is just big words,” she said.
Ben Ami said military pressure has killed hostages in several cases and has only brought hostages back in a few cases. “The only way to bring back the hostages is through a deal,” she added.
“All the officials are saying the conditions are ripe for a deal. The excuses have run out. It’s time to bring all the hostages back as quickly as possible because who knows who will survive the winter in the tunnels.”