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‘The world has forgotten’ about the captives
Udi Goren, who lost his cousin in the October 7 attack, told Al Jazeera that it feels like “the world has forgotten” there is a “critical and timely matter” of securing the release of the captives.
Goren said the “war could end tomorrow” and stop the suffering of Israelis and Palestinians if the Israeli government and other nations focused on this objective.
“We keep hearing from the world, ‘Let’s end the war’, ‘Let’s have a ceasefire’, he said, adding that countries keep arming Israel and sending humanitarian aid to Gaza, simply adding “fuel to the fires”.
“I want to see the end of Gazan’s suffering. We don’t enjoy seeing 2 million people internally displaced, some of them being refugees for the second time in their lives,” Goren said. “I want to see everyone calling out for the release of the hostages and that would be the day when the war would end.”
Israel will "continue to fight," Netanyahu vows in speech marking October7
Israel will “continue to fight,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Monday in a speech marking a year since Hamas’ October 7 attacks.
“As long as the enemy threatens our existence and the peace of our country, we will continue to fight,” Netanyahu said during a ceremony in the Israeli city of Ofakim. “As long as our hostages are still in Gaza, we will continue to fight.”
The prime minister reiterated Israel’s war goals, including toppling Hamas, returning the hostages in Gaza to Israel, returning to their homes Israelis who have fled from the south and north along with “eliminating any future threat from Gaza to Israel.”
“October 7 will symbolize for generations the cost of our revival, and for generations it will demonstrate how determined we are and how strong our spirit is,” Netanyahu said.
“Together we will continue to fight. And together, with God’s help, we will win,” he added.
Israel will "reap with joy" what it has "sown in tears," Israel's president says
Israel will “reap with joy” what it has “sown in tears,” Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said on Monday — in a speech marking one year since Hamas’ October 7 attacks.
“It has already been a year — a full year of heartbreak and pain,” Herzog said, adding that the hearts of Israelis are bound to the hostages still held in Gaza with “love and worry.” “We know we will not be whole until they return to us,” he said.
The president said that he bowed his head in “gratitude and reverence” to the families of those murdered and kidnapped by Hamas and wished them “healing and comfort.”
“From here, I promise us, all of us, that we will continue to build, and we will reap with joy what we have sown in tears,” he continued. “Elderly men and women will once again sit in the gardens of homes in the western Negev, and the streets of the Galilee settlements will once again be filled with children playing.”
“We will rise together, only together, and this love, sanctified in blood, will once again bloom among us,” Herzog said.
