‘I was two months pregnant when my husband was kidnapped by Hamas’

The anguished relatives of hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas have shared their piercingly emotional stories with an audience at JW3.

Almost 300 days after 7 October, the families of 22-year-old Guy Gilboa Dalal, (kidnapped from the Nova festival); 19-year-old soldier Tamir Nimrodi, (abducted from his base near the Erez Crossing ); 41-year-old Tal Haimi, (kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak as he defended it from Hamas terrorists), and Yarden Bibas, kidnapped with his wife Shiri and their four-year old Ariel and one-year-old son Kfir, addressed supporters in a Q&A organised with the Embassy of Israel.

Ella Haimi, the widow of Tal, entered the auditorium holding her newborn son Lotan.

On 7 October, when the family realised Tal’s phone’s GPS was tagging him in Gaza, she was forced to tell his parents that she was newly pregnant with their fourth child.

With Tal missing in Gaza, she spent the last seven months of her pregnancy without him, not knowing if he was alive or dead, caring for their nine-year-old twin boys and another six-year-old boy.

Displaced from their home on 8 October, the Haimi family have not returned. Instead, they are living with other families at Kibbutz Eilot in Eilat.

Haimi told the assembled guests she couldn’t go back to their kibbutz or consider re-building their lives without Tal’s body being returned and buried properly.

Two months after 7 October, the IDF informed her that military intelligence indicated he had likely been murdered by Hamas on October 7th and his body was being held in Gaza. For the sake of their children, Ella symbolically buried an empty coffin.

“My son will never know his father. And his father will never know his son.”

Each of the family members on stage said their lives had been on hold since 7 October.

Merav Gilboa-Dalal, the mother of Guy, said she was only managing to survive day to day with the help of psychiatric drugs.

Yair Keshet, Yarden Bibas’ uncle, struggled to speak, until overwhelmed with emotion, he broke down in tears. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s the first time I’ve cried. This session is the most emotional session we have had. Everyone is crying. Am Y’Israel Chai. We are all together.”

Herut Nimrodi, the mother of Tamir, revealed that for the first two weeks after her son’s abduction, she didn’t want to live.

The sound of muffled crying from the audience could be heard throughout the 90-minute session in the auditorium. The delegation was given a final standing ovation at the end of the evening.

Whilst in London, the group also met with government ministers, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and Israel’s ambassador Tzipi Hotovely.

On Wednesday, they were joined by supporters outside Parliament Square whilst Israeli artist Benzi Brofman painted a live artwork in support of bringing the hostages home.

Hotovely told Jewish News: “Almost 10 months on since Hamas committed its barbaric atrocities, murdering more than 1,200 innocent Israeli people, 120 hostages continue to face unimaginable torture and sexual violence in Gaza.”

“That is why this delegation of families whose loved ones remain in the violent grip of Hamas is so important and timely. We will never cease demanding the release of the hostages until each and every one is returned home and reunited with their loved ones.”

“My team and I at the Embassy of Israel in London, continue to do everything we can to ensure their voices are not ignored, and their calls for the release of their loved ones are heard.”