One day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress, dozens of family members of Israeli hostages, plus advocates, gathered feet from the Capitol with an urgent message. They called on Netanyahu to secure a deal with Hamas that would end fighting and bring their loved ones home.
“We’re here to demand that our government and the international community do sign this deal and give back our hope and bring all 120 hostages back home,” Dana Cwaigrach with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Tuesday.
Many in the crowd carried signs saying, “save lives, seal the deal, give us hope.”
“He’s lying on a mattress that stinks, he hasn't had a shower for more than half a year, and he’s begging,” said Aviva Siegel of her relative who was taken hostage.
During the rally, loved ones shared heartbreaking stories of their family members who have been missing for months.
“Unfortunately we know that he’s no longer alive, but his body is still there in Gaza,” said Boaz Atzili, whose cousin was taken hostage. "His wife was also taken on October 7, and she came back in the first deal on November 29. Until then, we didn't know anything about either of them.”
Netanyahu is set to meet with the president and vice president later this week, and advocates say they’re doing everything they can to make sure that leaders get their message.
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“There's only one thing right now that he needs to be caring about,” Cwaigrach said. “The hostages must come first. Everything else should be dealt with later.”
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