‘We have been living in darkness for 240 days,’ hostage families tell 'Post' conference

Two hundred and forty days in darkness. Two hundred and forty days in despair. Two hundred and forty days shrouded in uncertainty. Several relatives of Israeli captives in Gaza addressed the gala evening ahead of The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference and described the harsh reality they have been thrown into since October 7.

On the day that in Israel has become known as the Black Saturday, the Idan family was in their house in Kibbutz Nahal Oz. 

The terrorists broke into the building, shot Maayan, 18, and kept the family at gunpoint for hours, streaming live from the phone of Gali, the mother, on her Facebook account.

“I was in Tel Aviv,” Devorah Idan, the mother of Tsachi, shared on stage. “We saw what was happening, we watched for hours. We saw the children crying, asking the terrorists why they killed their sister.”

Eventually, Tsachi was taken away.

“For us, that day has never ended,” Devorah said. “We live in a perpetual nightmare. My granddaughter was killed, my son was kidnapped. He did not get to go to her funeral. He did not get to mourn for her. I came all the way from Israel to ask for help.”

Moshe Emilio Lavi, a former captain in the IDF from Sderot who now works as a management consultant in New York, criticized the Israeli authorities, including some of the officials attending the evening. Lavi’s brother-in-law Omri Miran is currently held in Gaza.

“Every time I addressed an international body or foreign government officials, I ask them to keep Hamas accountable,” he said. “At the same time, I hold my government accountable. We know there is an Israeli proposal for an agreement on the table. On October 8, we were promised that bringing the hostages home was the most important short-term objective of the war because time if of essence. After that, we can tackle the challenge of destroying Hamas.

Lavi recounted the horrors experienced by Omri, his sister Lishay, and his young nieces Roni and Alma at Kibbutz Nahal Oz at the hands of the Hamas terrorists. Lishay and the girls survived and were rescued by the IDF; Omri was taken hostage.

“Roni will turn three in July, and all she is asking is that her father is with her for her birthday,” he said. “She knows he already missed her mom’s birthday and her little sister’s first birthday. She just wants him back.”

Ronen Neutra described his son Omer, a 22-year-old soldier kidnapped on October 7, as the “poster boy for the American Jewish dream.”

“He is an American kid, growing up he loved sports, and he was very involved with his Jewish youth movement,” he recalled.

He explained that he and his wife, who both hold dual American and Israeli citizenships and are children of Holocaust survivors, understood and supported his desire to serve in the IDF.

“On October 6, he called us and he said he was expecting a quiet Shabbat, after a month of very intense work, spending some 18 hours a day on his tank,” Neutra recalled.

 When the attack began, he and his comrades rushed to the border with their tanks.

“His whole team was taken,” Neutra said. “Two of them were killed, and two were taken captive.

“Since then, my wife and I are fighting to bring my son and all the other hostages back,”  he noted. “We feel the American authorities have been very supportive, we are not sure about the Israeli government. Everyone should remember that redeeming captives is a central value in the Torah. I ask everyone in this room to do what they can to help bring my son and all the other hostages home.”

The panel was moderated by Daniella Greenbaum, an Emmy-award-winning producer and writer with work in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.

Some 70 relatives of Israeli hostages attended the gala evening, which was organized with Bank Leumi and in cooperation with Israel’s Defense and Security Forum.