This October 7 will be precisely one year since Hamas terrorists launched an unprecedented attack against Israel. In all, 1,200 people, including children, lost their lives and 251 were taken hostage. This Sunday, the Jewish community of Belgium remembered these tragic events.
Alon is the father of Tamir, kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Every day, he hopes to be able to find him alive. “I hope and believe he is alive”he says. “He’s the greatest hope of my life. He was captured when he was in great shape. So I think he has to come back like that. I hope that will be the case when he comes back .”
Tamir is one of 63 hostages still held in the Gaza Strip, but this figure remains uncertain, with no official communication from Hamas.
Are the inhumane detention conditions confirmed by the 117 released hostages? “They are truly living in this hell of the Gaza tunnels”indicates Yves Ochinsky, president of the Coordination Committee of Jewish Organizations in Belgium (CCOBJ). “They are mistreated, poorly fed, they are in abominable conditions.”
2000 participants
With the help of candles, commemorative films and speeches, nearly 2,000 people paid tribute to the hostages killed and still being held by Hamas.
An important moment for the entire community which wants to show its support, even from afar. “There is especially this little kid, this little Kfir Bibas, who was kidnapped when he was 9 months old”recalls Joël Rubinfeld, president of the Belgian League against Anti-Semitism. “Most of his life today he had lived in Gaza. He is almost two years old and it’s terrible to imagine it.”
Earlier in the day, around a hundred people demonstrated for the release of Israeli hostages, convinced that this would be another step towards peace. “We must listen to the pain of some with the pain of others, without denying and without rewriting History”underlines a participant in this commemoration. In total, 70 hostages were killed and around thirty bodies were recovered.
October 7 massacre Tensions in the Middle East Israeli-Palestinian conflict
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