Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
Doron Steinbrecher , who was released from Hamas captivity in the first phase of the current deal, sent her first video message to the participants of the rally in Hostages' Square Saturday evening.
"The last time I sat like this with a camera pointed at me, it was in captivity, and this whole thing sends me back to all the videos of captivity that I filmed and saw," she began. "But this time I'm sitting comfortably on a couch, in a warm and cozy place, with my family looking at me - and no matter how difficult it is, it was important to me to film this video."
Steinbrecher said that "I want you to see me, that I'm okay, and that it will take more time and it's a process that doesn't end in a week or two - but I'm here thanks to you. Thank you to all the people who embraced my family and are embracing me now, people who don't even know me. It's important for me to also say thank you to all the soldiers and security forces. I sit here to see and contemplate everything that was here in this crazy year - and I see what an important and huge part they played both on October 7 and after."
Steinbrecher then addressed the families of the hostages who remained in captivity: "You are not alone, and we continue to fight for you. We will do everything, I will do everything, until everyone returns home and until you can close the circle. We are together until the end. The first second I can leave here, I will be there with a sign in my hand."
At the end, she addressed the citizens of Israel with a smile and a message: "I understand that everyone knows me from the terrible recording 'Help me, help me,' or as the blonde wearing pink, 31 years old from the Kfar Aza. But I am no longer a blonde and I will no longer wear pink. I am Doron, 31 years old, and I am no longer a prisoner of Hamas. I am in my own home."
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
The weekly rally in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, which was filled to capacity with thousands of people, is celebrating the return of Yarden Bibs, Ofer Calderon and Keith Siegel from Hamas captivity after 484 days in the hell of Gaza, and after the release of Agam Berger, Arbel Yehoud and Gadi Mozes on Thursday. The message the families were conveying is "We are here until the last hostage!"
"The entire country watched with excitement today as Ofer, Yarden and Keith were returned to their families," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement before the rally. "Along with the joy, we will not stop until we see all the hostages return home - the living to rehabilitation and the dead to a proper burial. We call on the people of Israel to come to Hostages' Square."
2 View gallery
Yamit Steinbrecher, sister of released hostage Doron, speaks at Hostages' Square in Tel Aviv
(Photo: Dana Koppel)
At the rally Saturday evening, after the screening of Doron Steinbrecher's video, her mother, Simona, spoke: "I am Doron's mother, the heroine you just saw," she said. "A mother who was privileged to hug her daughter, a hug that you all saw and hugged us back. Thank you very much for this, it is a victory that is so obvious, and also so not. I feel the missing, the silent cry of those who are waiting for their return. We cannot let go. We must not stop! I ask you, don't stop! Be there, continue with all your strength!"
Doron's sister, Yamit Ashkenazi, also spoke: "She is no longer a hostage. How I waited to say this. And how afraid I was to imagine this moment. 471 days of a long journey, in which optimism cracked time and time again, but hope – it always remained there, burning within us. The emotions are mixed – there is such great joy and gratitude, but also great anxiety. We must not be confused by the sights, we must not sink into euphoria. The recovery and reconstruction will not truly begin until everyone is home." She turned to the leaders: "Trump, Bibi and the mediators, you succeeded! 18 hostages have returned, thank you! I trust you to ensure that everyone returns home, down to the last hostage."