In Lisbon, family members of Israeli hostages charge action from Portugal and Europe to ensure the release of the kidnapped by Hamas
“You have to wake up and tell Hamas to stop,” Idan’s father, Luso-Israeli hostage already declared dead by Israel, said in a message addressed to the Portuguese authorities. The press conference, organized by the Israeli Embassy in Lisbon, joined the family members of two other captives. Family members of Israeli hostages were in Lisbon, in an initiative carried out by the Israeli Embassy in Portugal, to urge the Portuguese government and other European countries to make steps to ensure the release of captives still alive and the delivery of the bodies of those who were killed in the hands of Hamas.
“You have a hostage citizen in Gaza. You have to wake up and tell Hamas to stop,” he said in a message to Portugal, Eli Shtivi, the father of Idan Shtivi, the Luso-Israeli hostage at the Southern Desert Festival of Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, and already declared dead by Israeli authorities.
Idan, who had volunteering to photograph the festival, was one of 251 people captured in the Hamas offensive 17 months ago. According to Israel’s defense forces, he was murdered on the day of the attack, and his body was taken to the Gaza Strip. It is among the 35 hostages killed and still kept in possession of the Hamas militants at the Palestinian enclave.
“You have to do something for him, he’s a good person, a good student, he wanted to improve the world. It was a party in a spirit of peace and love,” Eli stressed, asking Portuguese parties to put the drama of Israeli hostages on the campaign agenda for May 18 legislative elections.
“You have an election in two weeks, this has to be spoken. You can’t have a Portuguese citizen in the tunnels of terrorists,”
Eli Shtivi, father of the Luso-Israelite hostage Idan Shtivi
“I want my son at home!”
In Lisbon was also the father of Tamir Nimrodi, an Israeli hostage who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023, from the Israeli army base where he worked on the northern border of Gaza.
“My son was 18 when he was kidnapped, was a military but not combatant, taught in the army,” said Alon, Tamir’s father.
“We are the only family in Israel who knows nothing about his family member,” he said.
Tamir’s father recalled that his son is also “a European citizen, a German citizen” and appealed to European countries to join the Israeli cause.
“Today is us. Tomorrow can be you. We need all European countries who want peace to be with us, be with Israel. [Israel] We are the barrier between Europe and terrorism, ”he said.
Alon Nimrodi dexted clear that the only way to ensure hostages to the home is “an agreement,” but refused to associate the recent military expansion announced by Israel with any failure in mediation to free the captives.
“We are not politicians, we are not military,” he says.
“I’m just a simple man, a simple person, a father whose life collapsed on October 7th. So I don’t know what is right and what is wrong. I just want my son at home”
Alon Nimrodi, Father of the Israeli hostage Tamir Nimrodi
Salem Alatrash, brother of Muhammad, hostage of Beduine origin also declared dead by the Israeli authorities, criticized Hamas’s actions.
“This is not the way to profess Islam: it is Daesh and Isis. Hamas does not behave as a Muslim, and the Alatrash family is a Muslim family.”
“There are people trapped in tunnels, to starve. The longer it goes, the harder it is to return alive, but you also need to deliver the dead to families,” he added.
According to Israel’s defense forces, Alatrash was murdered on October 7 and his body was also taken to Gaza.
Despite family members’ appeals, Israeli General Nitzan Alon, responsible for the hostage negotiations, warned the burden on the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, reports the Jerusalem Post.
Nitzan Alon points out a direct relationship between the expansion of military operations in the Palestinian enclave and the increase in violence over Hamas captives, even warning that the new offensive announced by Israel could have disastrous consequences, as the militants of the Islamic fundamentalist group, note, discharge their frustration as a response to Israel’s climb.
With information from Euronews*
Source: https://www.ocafezinho.com/2025/05/07/pais-israelitas-apelam-a-portugal-para-libertar-refens-em-gaza/
