"Free the children NOW!" - Poster

View of the press conference hall

At the beginning of the press conference, the relatives described their terrible experiences. Batsheva Yahalomi Cohen comes from the kibbutz Nir Oz. On October 7, she was abducted from the kibbutz together with her husband and three children. By chance, she managed to escape on the way to the Gaza Strip with her two daughters (10 years and 18 months). Her injured husband and son were abducted and have been held hostage in the Gaza Strip for over 40 days. Avihai Brodutch lived with his wife and their three children (10, 8 and 4 years old) in Kibbutz Kfar Azza. Avihai's entire family was abducted. He described the appalling situation of absolute uncertainty with no further information about his family's whereabouts or state of health. Gilad Korngold comes from the Beeri kibbutz. His son, his wife and both grandchildren (8 and 3 years old) were taken hostage by Hamas. Like Batsheva and Avihai, his appeal was to release the kidnapped children: "free the children now, tomorrow can be too late!"

In the subsequent discussion with the journalists present, the relatives emphasized the positive attitude and strong commitment of the people in the kibbutz and their desire for peace. Many of those murdered and abducted were or are involved in dialog and peace initiatives. With reference to the uniqueness of the relationship with Germany, great thanks were expressed to the interlocutors - and thus also to the Qatari embassy - for helping to publicize their fate and that of their relatives and to campaign for the release of the hostages. The urgent appeal "help us to save the children - no child should be part of this war" was at the forefront of the talks.