Israeli hostages' relatives say they are still hopeful

Tel Aviv, May 14 (IANS/DPA) Around 1,00,000 people attended a rally in Tel Aviv on the eve of Israel's Independence Day to remember the fate of the more than 100 hostages still in the hands of Hamas, according to rally organisers.

The demonstrators gathered under the slogan "Our hope is not yet lost" on Monday evening. The rally was attended by relatives of the hostages and former hostages, as well as people from the towns and communities affected by the October 7 terrorist attack, which triggered the Gaza war.

Monday was the annual day of remembrance for Israel's fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism.

"We have gone from being a united community to a broken and bereaved one," organisers quoted former hostage Ella Ben Ami as saying at the rally.

Ben Ami's father is still being held by Hamas.

The day of remembrance was full of memories of 101 killed members of her kibbutz, neighbours and friends. "Among them, seven are in Gaza and were not given a proper burial place, and their families could not cry over their graves."

Another speaker accused the Israeli government of failing to prevent the terrorist attack: "The government that abandoned its citizens to be abducted, murdered, and raped, the government that was supposed to guard them with the utmost vigilance, has no right to talk about the price for their return. There is no price for the lives of the hostages."

Many participants in the rally carried Israeli flags printed with a yellow ribbon, a symbol of the hostages whose relatives and friends have been waiting for more than seven months for their return.

Israel's Independence Day celebrations this year were dominated by the October 7 attacks and the war in Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a pre-recorded speech that this Independence Day would be like no other.

"The war is still raging," Netanyahu said. "It was forced upon us on that dark day of the horrendous massacre."

Israel began its military campaign to eliminate Hamas following the unprecedented October 7 attacks on southern Israel when the Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians and took more than 200 people hostage in the Gaza Strip.

Some 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war so far, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled health authority.

The high number of civilian casualties and the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the territory have triggered sharp international criticism of Israel's actions.

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