Calls for Ceasefire Grow Amid Hostage Crisis and Renewed Fighting in Gaza

Conflicts 10:23 10.04.2025

"This week is Passover - the festival of freedom," Liri Albag, an Israeli soldier held hostage in Gaza for 15 months by Hamas, told a crowd of thousands gathered in Tel Aviv last weekend. In recent weeks, powerful voices have joined the fight to bring home Israel's remaining hostages - those of the captives released during the latest ceasefire deal that began in January and lasted two months.Despite their ongoing trauma, frailty and grief, a number of ex-hostages have felt compelled to give their harrowing testimony on stage at demonstrations, in long TV interviews or in meetings overseas with world leaders.They have detailed their own harsh treatment and expressed fears for the fate of others left behind, especially since Israel cut off all humanitarian aid to Gaza at the start of March and restarted its military offensive two weeks later, saying this was to put pressure on Hamas.

Twenty-four of those who have been held captive since the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel of 7 October 2023 are still believed to be alive.Witnessing the collapse of the ceasefire has been unbearable, the former hostages say.

"We have no time. The earth is burning under our feet," insisted Gadi Moses, an 80-year-old farmer abducted by Palestinian Islamic Jihad from Kibbutz Nir Oz and freed in January, who also spoke at Saturday's rally in Hostages Square.

"I'm not really here. Only half of me is standing here," said Omer Wenkert, another former hostage, in his emotive address. Part of us, part of all of us, is still captive in Gaza." He called on Israeli leaders to take action on the hostages saying: "Prime Minister Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, it's on you to get them back."

Many of the released hostages want a return to the original ceasefire deal which brought them home in exchange for some 1,800 Palestinians being freed by Israel.The agreement was meant to see a second phase in which remaining Israeli captives would be returned and the war would end.However, Israel now rejects this and is pushing instead for more hostages to be freed through an extension of the first phase of the truce.Hamas has agreed only to an extension involving the release of fewer hostages than Israel will accept, and ultimately wants to return to the original ceasefire framework.Since appearing on stage, flanked by masked gunmen and looking pale and thin, at a Hamas handover ceremony in Gaza City in February, US-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel has turned into an active campaigner.

He was part of a group of eight ex-hostages that met President Donald Trump in the Oval Office last month - crediting him with securing the recent deal that brought back 25 hostages and the bodies of eight others and urging him to help get ceasefire negotiations back on track.

"It's urgent and every day that goes on is just more and more suffering and more and more possible death and psychological devastation," Mr Siegel told 60 Minutes on the US network CBS.

Some of the freed hostages have openly accused the Israeli government of betrayal and abandonment and, in some cases, they have drawn vicious online threats for their comments.No wonder, then, that many continue to pin their hopes on Trump.Along with Keith Siegel and his wife Aviva, another recently released hostage, Yair Horn, followed Netanyahu to Washington this week. The group had their own set of meetings with high-ranking officials and again met the president.Mr Horn wore a red hoodie showing his younger brother, Eitan, who is still held in Gaza. The brothers were abducted together from Nir Oz and a haunting video released by Hamas showed them on the eve of Yair's release - hugging, with Eitan weeping.

Mr Siegel described how he and others with whom he was initially held - including women and children - had been forced to adjust to life in the tunnels.He said there was constant abuse: "I witnessed a young woman who was being tortured by the terrorist. I mean literal torture, not just in the figurative sense."

The small, red-haired Bibas boys, Ariel and Kfir, have become a symbol of the horror of the events of 7 October.

When he was released, looking gaunt and hollow-eyed after nearly 500 days in captivity, it was clear his captors had not told him what most Israelis already knew - that his British-born wife, Lianne and teenage daughters, Noiya and Yahel, were among some 1,200 people killed on 7 October.Just three weeks after his release, Mr Sharabi gave a heart-wrenching TV interview to Israel's Channel 12 TV. He described how he had learnt the fate of his family from a social worker he knew after the Red Cross handed him to the Israeli army.

A day after Trump's Netanyahu meeting, Mr Horn stood with the US leader at a Republican event and stressed his gratitude to him.Mr Sharabi - who has since met Trump and addressed the UN Security Council - said he decided he must talk about his experiences even as he was processing his loss because: "It's very simple, no-one must be left behind."When the IDI recently asked Israelis which of the state's declared war goals - toppling Hamas or bringing home all the hostages - was more important, 68% said it was the latter, more than in polls last year.Meeting at the White House on Monday, President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu said there were ongoing efforts to restart truce talks and free the hostages.Despite his strong words, many of the former hostages question Netanyahu's commitment.For his political survival, the prime minister relies on far-right allies who back continued fighting in Gaza and military occupation of the strip.

Madina Mammadova\\EDnews

IEPF issued a statement regarding Azerbaijani children at the UN Human Rights Council

News line

OpenAI is working on its own X-like social network, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter
12:21 18.04.2025
Kazakhstan extends a hand of compassion to Afghanistan through humanitarian aid
12:08 18.04.2025
The Pompidou Centre’s Bold Legacy and Future Transformation
11:59 18.04.2025
Scientists Find Promising Indication of Extraterrestrial Life
11:43 18.04.2025
WHO Members Agree on Legally Binding Pandemic Treaty to Strengthen Global Response
11:35 18.04.2025
Cosmic Map Reveals 14 Billion Years of Dark Matter’s Influence
11:28 18.04.2025
Europe’s Euclid Space Telescope Begins Mission to Unveil the Universe’s Dark Secrets
11:20 18.04.2025
Canadian Leaders Face Off in Final Debate as Trump Looms Large
11:09 18.04.2025
Weekend Travel Alert: Expect Delays at Jersey Airport and Ferry Terminals
11:04 18.04.2025
Author Reflects on 8-Year Journey of Self-Publishing Sketchbooks Despite Setbacks
10:57 18.04.2025
Over 300 Works Featured in Easter Weekend Art Exhibition
10:40 18.04.2025
Trump Sets New Port Fees to Challenge China, Boost US Shipbuilding
10:31 18.04.2025
US Dismantles Large Parts of Controversial Migrant Camp at Guantanamo Bay
10:25 18.04.2025
U.S. Airstrike Destroys Houthi Fuel Terminal in Yemen Amid Escalating Red Sea Tensions
10:18 18.04.2025
Florida State University Shooting Leaves Two Dead Suspect Hospitalized
10:11 18.04.2025
Ukraine and US Sign Minerals Deal, Eye Economic Pact and Reconstruction Fund
10:05 18.04.2025
Hamas Rejects Israeli Ceasefire Offer, Demands Full End to War
09:52 18.04.2025
Russia Seizing Thousands of Homes from Ukrainians Who Fled Mariupol
12:39 17.04.2025
Peter Dutton Clarifies: “I Believe in Climate Change” After Backlash Over Debate Remarks
12:28 17.04.2025
Empowering Small Businesses: How Visa Transform Data into Strategic Advantage
12:17 17.04.2025
The New Face of Power: Trump’s ‘Trumpant’ Gaze and the Reinvention of Political Iconography
12:11 17.04.2025
Three Centuries of American Photography: A Landmark Exhibition at the Rijksmuseum
12:03 17.04.2025
The Lebanese Plane: Mystery Jet Linked to Assad’s Inner Circle
11:49 17.04.2025
Trump Administration Deports 17 Alleged Gang Members to El Salvador Amid Legal Challenges
11:36 17.04.2025
Unveiling K2-18b: A World on the Edge of Discovery
11:22 17.04.2025
Jagmeet Singh: NDP Leader Faces Uphill Battle Ahead of Federal Election
11:13 17.04.2025
Between Two Flags: Poilievre’s Populism in the Shadow of Trump
11:01 17.04.2025
Bat roost plans at former brickworks housing site
10:51 17.04.2025
EU Proposes Fast-Track Migration Rules Amid Concerns Over Human Rights
10:46 17.04.2025
Critical Talks in Paris: U.S. and European Officials Discuss Ending the War in Ukraine
10:38 17.04.2025
The Rhythm of the Visible: Sean Scully’s Modern Abstraction
10:30 17.04.2025
US Struggles to Secure Rare Earths Amid Tensions and Limited Capacity
10:22 17.04.2025
Canadian Leaders Clash Over Trump, Tariffs, and Housing in First Debate
10:11 17.04.2025
Trump Defies Court Order in El Salvador Deportation Dispute
10:02 17.04.2025
Trump Revokes Biden’s Security Clearance, Citing Precedent Set in 2021
13:18 16.04.2025
Is Canada a Part of the United Kingdom?
13:10 16.04.2025
In the Footsteps of Egeria: Jordan’s Forgotten Pilgrimage Trail
13:01 16.04.2025
The Magical Moment of the Dolomites: Peaks Bathed in Pink by the Enrosadira
12:53 16.04.2025
Cair Vie Wind Farm: Balancing Renewable Energy with Wildlife Protection
12:47 16.04.2025
Israel to Intensify Military Offensive Across Gaza
12:40 16.04.2025
Hamısı