The Israeli government welcomes the elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and continues its military offensive in southern Lebanon more than ever. If the Israeli population almost unanimously supports this war, the families of the hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023 fear that this new front will further delay the prospects of liberation.
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From our special envoy in Jerusalem,
The small white tent, saturated with dozens of portraits now sadly familiar to all Israelis, is set up next to the Prime Minister’s residence Benyamin Netanyahu. Objective: maintain mobilization for the release of the hostages.
Asked by RFI, and over-solicited by the media around the world for a year on this painful subject, the representatives of the families did not wish to speak. But the volunteers who accompany them, like Omer, act as their spokesperson.
“ I really want to call on the government to realize that we must reach an agreement. At Lebanonin Gaza, an agreement is needed with all the hostile entities around us, to bring the hostages home “, he insists. “ Military action alone will not achieve this. At best, some hostages will return home, and the others will be killed. And we cannot accept that. »
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Hanna distributes bracelets calling for the release of the hostages and answers questions from passers-by. Arriving from Argentina around forty years ago, she rejoiced at the assassination of the head of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, but sees in the Israeli offensive in Lebanon an abandonment of the hostages on the part of the government.
“ That complicates things a bit. We could carry out all these operations, against those who attack us later. We have to bomb them, we have no other solution, but the most important actions, like killing Nasrallah, could have been done later. I think the hostages are not the government’s priority. From the population, yes, but not from the government », believes Hanna.
Of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 in Gaza, 101 are still detained, according to family counts. Among them, the army considers around thirty dead.
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