Former hostages Omer Wenkert, Liri Albag, and Gadi Moses spoke at a rally at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday, demanding that the Israeli government agree to a comprehensive deal that would return all Israeli hostages.
Omer Wenkert, a former hostage who was released in the first phase of the currently paused hostage deal, opened the protest rally.
"I was brought back to life about a month and a half ago. I am here, excited and crying out: Return my brothers from captivity. But I’m not really here; only half of me stands here. Part of me is still captive in a tunnel, and you [here at the rally] are not really here either—because part of us, part of all of us, is captive in Gaza."
Wenkert went on to describe the horrific conditions he endured while in captivity: "In captivity, I was held in extreme conditions in a narrow tunnel, with a hole in the ground beside me to use as a bathroom. For 505 days, I was starved, humiliated, and beaten. Of those days, I spent 197 days alone, almost losing my sanity."
He recalled the traumatic moment of his abduction: "I was kidnapped from a fortified shelter where 28 young people were killed, including my good friend, my sunshine, who became my guardian angel—Kim Damati."
Turning directly to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Wenkert pleaded: "Prime Minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, it is on you to bring them back! It is only on you to bring them home! Remember, these are my brothers; these are our brothers, and it is on you, only on you, that they will be home!"
He also called on Netanyahu and the cabinet members: "I call on the cabinet members and the Prime Minister to invite me to the next cabinet meeting and look me in the eyes to hear my testimony. I call on you—do not avert your gaze! Be brave and invite me to tell you up close what my captive brothers are going through at this very moment."
"The word 'freedom' sounds grand, noble, but it is also simple: to be with family. To wake up in the morning with peace in your heart. To know that you are free to dream, hug, love, laugh, cry—without fear," he said.
Liri Albag speaks
Freed hostage Liri Albag also spoke at the rally.
"I stand here tonight before you, free—but my heart remains with everyone still in captivity. I stand here to be their voice. The voice of those who cannot speak, shout, or ask for help."
She described the conditions she endured during her captivity: "One and a half years of torture and physical, mental, psychological—and even sexual—violence. They threatened to cut off our hands if they found out we had lied or done something forbidden. They forbade us from crying, from hugging each other, and from listening to one another in moments of crisis."
"They worked us there. We were their servants," she added.
Albag also noted how she and the other hostages felt broken when the first deal fell apart.
"We were sure we were going home. We were sure the nightmare was over. But the doors didn’t open—and the nightmare continued. In one moment, I lost trust. Trust in the world outside. Trust that anyone really remembered us. Trust that we would ever get out of there."
She also spoke about the upcoming Passover holiday, adding, "This week is Passover—the holiday of freedom. But what freedom is there when 59 people are still trapped in Hamas’s hell?
Speaking on the hostages still currently held in Gaza, she said, "They sit there, in the dark tunnels, with no food, no water, alone, helpless, not knowing if they have a tomorrow."
"Any return to fighting puts them at risk. If it’s orders from the senior ranks of Hamas, the hostages are the first to pay the price. If the Air Force attacks—unfortunately, even then, the hostages are in danger."
At the end of her speech, she called on the government to agree to a comprehensive deal.
"The hostages must come back—now! The conditions there are unbearable. They cannot hold out there much longer! I demand from decision-makers—all of them, now!"
