in Jerusalem, the impossible mourning of families of Israeli hostages whose bodies are held in Gaza

Families of Israeli hostages mobilized Thursday to demand that the Jewish state bring back their bodies, without which they cannot mourn.

Families of Israeli hostages are demanding the return of the bodies of their loved ones. Among the 128 hostages kidnapped on October 7 and still detained in Gaza, 36 are no longer alive. But their bodies are still being held in the besieged enclave. For the affected families, to the distress and sadness is added the impossible mourning without a grave to mourn.

Thursday evening a procession took place to the Knesset in Jerusalem to demand that the state bring back the bodies of their dead.

An empty wooden coffin, covered with the Israeli flag, begins its procession, carried by the families of the killed hostages. They know that they will never hug their brother, their son, their mother again, but being able to pay their respects at a grave is all they have left and all they ask for.

Roni is the sister of Tamir, 38, who was murdered on October 7 while defending the Nir Oz kibbutz. His body was taken to the Gaza Strip. “This mourning process is blocked. We have neither body nor grave. For my parents it is very difficult: the most difficult thing in the world is to lose a child. We need an agreement, I want get my brother back.”

“I think of her every day”

Rana mourns her niece, Inbar, kidnapped at the Supernova festival. The young woman died in captivity
“On October 7, my niece fled for more than two hours and no one defended her, she was all alone. That day, the State violated the contract it has with its citizens and today we are abandoned a second time because every time there is a deal, an exchange that takes place, we are at the bottom of the list, we are put last.”

“The State is not intelligent enough to understand that it is not just about bodies. It is about our loved ones, the people we love the most and that is what we must understand .”

Rana, aunt of Inbar

at franceinfo

“I keep thinking about what she went through, continues RanaI think of her every day, in the little things, when I take the bus, I see her again, when I eat something I say to myself : how am I able to eat while she is underground ? And it’s a terrible sadness because we’re afraid it will last for years.” She thinks of soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul killed during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 and whose bodies are still in Gaza.

“We will not give up”

This feeling of abandonment, Ruby Chen, the father of Sergeant Itay Chen, also shares it. “Next week is Memorial Day : I would like to ask Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose brother Yoni also died a hero for the State of Israel, to remember that his brother had a funeral and that afterward there were the seven days of mourning which he was able to attend, then the month, and that he was able to go to his brother’s grave. I would like him to remember that when it comes time for the mermaid ceremony on Monday morning. We, at the moment, have nowhere to go for this Remembrance Day so I would be happy if the Prime Minister would tell me where he thinks I should go on Monday morning.”

“But we are waiting for you, we will not give up, say these familiesto bring you back to the land of Israel for eternal rest.”