Israeli forces have recovered the body of Youssef Ziyadne, a hostage who was kidnapped on October 7, in a tunnel in Gaza, the military announced on Wednesday.
Efforts are ongoing to determine whether additional remains in the same location belong to his son, Hamza, who was also taken hostage.
The discovery comes as negotiations for a ceasefire deal to release hostages and halt fighting are reportedly nearing completion.
The Hostages Families Forum criticized the delays, saying the deal “comes far too late” for Ziyadne, who was taken alive and should have returned alive.
The group emphasized that “every day in captivity poses an immediate mortal danger” and called for swift and comprehensive action.
This grim development has heightened the sense of urgency among families of the 100 remaining hostages.
Just one day earlier, protesters gathered at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, demanding the immediate release of all captives in Gaza.
The families, many of whom have endured over 15 months of uncertainty, expressed growing frustration with what they see as the government’s insufficient efforts to bring their loved ones home.
For over 460 days, the October 7 hostages’ families of October 7 have faced the possibility of never seeing their abducted relatives again, a fear that grows with every additional second of the brutal conditions the hostages continue to endure in Gaza.
Now, as a hostage deal to free 39 of the 100 kidnapped seems to be imminent, many family members are dissatisfied and feel the Israeli government is choosing to leave some of its citizens behind.
Protesting at the Tel Aviv Hostage Square
Demanding a deal to immediately release all the hostages regardless of price, a few of these family members protesting at Hostages Square this Tuesday spoke to The Media Line.
At the core of their argument is the assumption that Israel could free all the remaining hostages if it agreed to leave Gaza.
They believe that destroying Hamas could be accomplished later and that the terrorist group’s future actions would provide Israel with legal and moral legitimacy to re-enter Gaza and “finish the job.”
Meanwhile, the hostages in Gaza have limited time and should be freed now before it’s too late.
With 100 of their family members still in Hamas’s hands in Gaza, the families at Hostages Square are experiencing a degree of pain unimaginable for most people.
Among these family members is Orly Chen, aunt of hostage Itay Chen, a 19-year-old dual US-Israeli citizen who was serving in the IDF’s 7th Armored Brigade’s 75th Battalion when kidnapped and dragged into Gaza.
“We’ve been notified on March 12 that he may not be released alive. But we don’t believe that.
It’s only according to intelligence, and we don’t believe it. Until Itay is back home with us, we won’t believe it.
We will know only when he’s here if he’s alive or not.
We hope we will know that soon, in a deal to bring all the remaining 100 hostages back home,” Chen told The Media Line.
“We need all the 100 hostages to be freed together, not in waves. We can’t have differences. There is no difference between any of the hostages. Everybody has to come home together in one deal,” she said.
For more than 15 months, Qatar, Egypt, and the US-led efforts to release the hostages.
The result achieved was a brief November 2023 pause, with the release of 80 hostages in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners.
Yet, with many hostages feared buried under rubble or held by unaffiliated groups, the likelihood of leaving captives behind remains high.
Ella Ben-Ami, whose parents were kidnapped on October 7, also shared Orly Chen’s sense of urgency regarding the hostages’ release.
While her mother, Raz Ben Ami, was returned from captivity in Gaza after 54 days, her father, Ohad Ben Ami, still remains there.
When asked if she fears not having her father returned, she replied: “Today, we stand outside Israel’s Security Cabinet to shout that we want a comprehensive deal for everyone, to save everyone, because there’s no time left. We’re receiving so many videos from Hamas showing the hostages—videos that are hard to watch—only highlighting the terrible conditions they are in.”
Continued Ben-Ami: “I miss my father, and I want him back. I will not give up until he’s here. I expect the State of Israel to take responsibility and make a deal that brings back all 100 hostages.”
Many Israelis, like Aviv Havron, believe Israel should not have doubts about ending the war immediately if it means freeing all the hostages. Havron is from Kibbutz Be’eri, and on October 7, he lost his little sister and two brothers-in-law while seven people from his family were taken hostage.
His close relative, Tal Shoham, is still captive in Gaza today. “We have to stop the war for now,” Havron told The Media Line. “Because now there isn’t a good enough reason to continue in Gaza, if not to free the hostages. If we can bring them back by ending the war, that is what should happen,” Havron explained.
According to Havron, even if Israel agrees to stop the war, it can go back whenever it chooses to “because Hamas will continue to give Israel legitimate motives to respond.
Stopping now doesn’t mean Israel will stop fighting permanently, but the hostages need the war to stop so they can return now.
Time is running out
Their time is running out after more than 15 months in inhumane captive conditions. There is no hope in being left in the tunnels, and another deal might not ever happen or not come out on time,” he argued.
“Esther,” an Israeli senior citizen who was also at the protest to support the hostages’ families, shared with The Media Line that while the public still has the energy to keep protesting on behalf of the hostages’ families, they are “losing a sense of hope since the chances that some of these hostages will be freed while still alive is very unlikely. The other deal to free hostages happened a long time ago. If all the hostages aren’t freed in the next deal, I fear they just won’t survive until another opportunity [presents itself].”
Similarly, “Ro’ee,” a young Israeli also showing his support for the hostages’ families, expressed optimism about the upcoming Trump administration but highlighted that “all the hostages must be freed now.”
“I think there will be a huge change in all of this when Trump’s presidency starts, but we can’t afford to wait until then. I don’t care under which American administration this happens because it needs to happen now,” he stressed.
While the war keeps going in Gaza, hopes are dimming for many Israelis.
“I can’t imagine what it might feel like for these families. Every day, the chances their family members are still alive get smaller, and I fear, at some point, we will lose hope,” Ro’ee concluded.