Hostage families: Israel has no future if we don't bring them home

• Published date: 12 April 2024
• Author: EVE YOUNG
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Danny Elgarat is one of the family members who participated in the march, calling for the release of the hostages, including his older brother, Itzhak

Danny Elgarat is a retired police chief-superintendent who was the commander of a station in Ashdod and was awarded a medal of service by the police commissioner. He now works as a high school teacher, and has a law degree.

Around 11:30 on the morning of October 7, Elgarat got a call from his brother, a resident of Nir Oz. "I could hear that he was very stressed, on the verge of tears," he said. "He told me that his hand was badly hurt, that it was crushed when he tried to close the door to his safe room."

"He didn't realize what situation he was in until then," he said.

Elgarat tried to coach his brother to make a tourniquet for his hand, but soon heard sounds of gunfire and shouting. "Itzik screamed into the phone, 'Danny, it's over. Danny, it's over.' and the call went dead," he described.

Elgarat tried to reach his niece's husband, who also lives on the kibbutz. "He told me, 'Danny, they have thrown four grenades at me. I killed a terrorist in my living room. Whoever goes outside dies.'

"That is when I realized that this was an attack on the kibbutz like what I had seen that morning in Sderot and Netiv Ha'asara. I just couldn't believe that the whole Gaza border area was conquered and attacked."

Elgarat tried to use police connections to send his brother help, but to no avail. He later tracked his brother's phone and saw that it had entered Gaza an hour after the two had spoken.

Hostages released in the temporary ceasefire in November later updated Elgarat, telling him his brother was brought to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, where he was treated and remained until mid-November, when he was brought to the tunnels.

Hamas uses propaganda using hostage conditions as a tool against Israel

Hamas released a video around a month ago, claiming that seven hostages were killed by an IDF bombardment. Itzik was one of the hostages in the video, but there are reasons to believe that the video may not be credible, explained Elgarat. Currently, the IDF is treating Itzik as a living hostage, but the family has no idea what his status really is.

Udi Goren, whose cousin Tal Haimi was murdered and kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, also participated in Thursday's march. Haimi's body is being held hostage in Gaza. He was thought to be alive in captivity, and only in December did it become clear that he had been killed on...