100 Days of Agonized Hope and Waiting

"My message is that this horrible thing that happened on October 7 is still our life. It's our life. This is the family's life since then, it's [a] non-stop thing. We don't eat properly; we don't sleep properly."

"The bottom line is, it was good to see him alive [in a video released by Hamas], but we don't know where and when it was taken and we know that the time is not going well for him."

"We saw him very tired, I think ten years older [in appearance] than what we saw him [look like] four months ago."

"Physically [his mother Margalit, released in a prisoner exchange], she's pretty much recovered, still not all the way, but she's on the way and mentally it's a long process."

"We want the Israeli government to be very active, to suggest things, to show the world that we are trying to resolve it and Hamas are the ones that are not supporting this."

Yair Moses, son of hostage Gadi Moses, 80 

Relatives and friends of Israeli hostages held by Hamas terrorists since its October 7 attack on Israel, march near Kibbutz Orim, along the Israel-Gaza border, in an effort to raise awareness about the plight of their loved ones, on January 12, 2024. Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Gadi and Margalit, Israeli farmers, raised their three children in the farming community from which they were taken hostage on October 7. After 60 years of farming, the last 30 years were spent by Gadi Moses teaching farming techniques in developing countries, working with development groups. Both Margalit and Gadi Moses were abducted by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel during an invasion that saw up to 1,400 civilians -- children, the elderly, women, men and soldiers slaughtered in an orgy of bloodlust.

The hostages remaining in Gaza number approximately 130, but it remains unknown how many have died, been killed, are ill -- much less still alive. They have been at the mercy of merciless hardened psychopaths for over 100 days. Yair Moses has embarked on a tour along with other family members of hostages, to raise awareness of the plight of the hostages.  The kibbutz which was home to 400 people, represents a small community a mere three kilometres from the Gaza border.

Of that number, one-tenth were murdered on that fateful day. Another 80 people were taken hostage. Since then, 40 were returned to their families in a prisoner exchange, nine have died in Gaza, and another 28 remain in Gaza, including Gadi Moses. Half of the original 240 Israelis that were kidnapped as hostages have either been returned via a prisoner exchange, or have been killed while held in Gaza by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Palestinian civilians.

 

Women hold photos of their relatives being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, including Gadi Moses, top, and Elad Katzir, on Jan. 11, 2024. Photo by Maya Alleruzzo/AP

 

Gad Moses appeared in a video released in December by the Al Quds Brigade, the armed wing' of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, which had taken part along with Palestinian civilians in flooding into Israel through the breached separation wall to commit their own atrocities against Israeli citizens. In that December video Gadi pleaded for release.

"We are dying every moment. We are in an unbearable situation", he pleaded, appearing frail and underweight. His son, in appealing to a Western audience, stressed the barrier to hostage release represented by Hamas's sadistic cruelty. The government of Israel has been under intense pressure by the families of the hostages to use all and any means at its disposal to force the release of the Israeli hostages. 

"We want the Israeli government to be very active, to suggest things, to show the world that we are trying to resolve it and Hamas are the ones that are not supporting this", echoed the voice of a son dedicated to seeing his father released from the hell his life has become, dragging his entire family with him into hopeless despair.

Residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz who have to the present been released from captivity by Hamas. AP