100 days into the Israel-Hamas war, family of an Israeli hostage says “they forgot about us”

That is considered one of two articles that includes voices from Israel and Gaza to mark 100 days of the Israel-Hamas war. Please additionally learn: CBS News producer Marwan al-Ghoul on 100 “miserable” days in Gaza.

100 days since Hamas attacked southern Israel, sparking the deadliest warfare to this point between the nation and the group that has dominated the Gaza Strip for nearly 20 years, Gil Dickmann’s 39-year-old cousin is among the many 136 hostages nonetheless believed to be held captive within the Gaza Strip, and he is not certain what is going on on.

“Now we really feel determined,” Dickmann instructed CBS Information. “The entire level, as they instructed us, of the second stage of the warfare, of transferring in by means of the bottom, was with a purpose to get the hostages again… and the hostages aren’t right here.”

Dickmann’s cousin, Carmel Gat, was visiting her dad and mom at a kibbutz in southern Israel the place they lived when Hamas militants stormed by means of the Gaza border on Oct. 7, raided the group and killed Gat’s mom. They took Gat and her sister-in-law, Yarden Roman-Gat, captive.

Roman-Gat was freed after 54 days in a prisoner swap throughout a brief cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, however Gat was not.

“We actually, actually hoped that on the eighth day of the cease-fire we had been additionally going to get Carmel again, my cousin,” Dickmann mentioned. “However simply the day earlier than her time got here, the deal collapsed.”

“They forgot about us”

Regardless of rising worldwide strain to cut back its navy response to the Hamas assault, Israel has vowed to finish its mission to dismantle the group and says it’s going to take at the very least the remainder of this 12 months to take action. One of many Israeli authorities’s acknowledged priorities is to safe the discharge of the remaining hostages, however there was no indication that any breakthrough is predicted imminently.

Dickmann is considered one of a whole bunch of members of the family of the hostages who’ve been ready, hoping, and urgent to get them again, and he has turn into more and more disillusioned and indignant with the progress made by Israel’s authorities, navy and worldwide companions.

“We had been instructed that the purpose of the warfare was to get the hostages again, and I do know that there is one other purpose for the warfare, that needs to be the annihilation of Hamas. It has been 100 days, and Hamas remains to be there, and the hostages are nonetheless there, so one thing should [have gone] mistaken,” Dickmann instructed CBS Information. “As an individual, I do not imagine in warfare as an answer to something, however they promised that that was the best way of getting the hostages again. If it does not work, effectively, perhaps it is best to attempt one other method. And I do not know in the event that they’re making an attempt one other method.”

Dickmann says he and the opposite relations of the remaining hostages have not acquired a lot info from officers, they usually’re apprehensive that discussions about what may occur after the warfare is over imply their members of the family aren’t a major concern.

“They forgot about us,” he mentioned. “I am actually making an attempt to get solutions, and I do not actually obtain them as a result of they’re simply telling me to attend.”

CBS Information sought remark for this story from a consultant for the Israeli authorities official appointed to handle the state of affairs with the hostages however acquired no reply by the point of publication. On Thursday, the Israel Protection Forces mentioned in an announcement that “regardless of all of the complexities within the ongoing operation and the completely different impediment posed by Hamas, the IDF stays dedicated to returning all Israeli hostages and dismantling Hamas.”

“So many individuals on each side of the border”

Dickmann says his perspective on what can and cannot be completed to get the hostages residence has modified because the begin of the warfare.

“In the event you requested me three months in the past if a deal between Israel and Hamas is feasible, I might inform you, ‘I do not assume so.’ However now we all know it is attainable as a result of there was a deal between Israel and Hamas. We all know that it is one thing that may truly occur.” 

About 1,200 individuals had been killed in Hamas’ assault on southern Israel, in accordance with Israeli officers, with greater than 200 taken hostage. 136 individuals at the moment stay in captivity in Gaza, the Israeli military says. 

Over 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, in accordance with the Hamas-run Ministry of Well being, which doesn’t distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, and tens of 1000’s extra have been displaced in what the U.N. calls a “humanitarian disaster.”

Dickmann says the violence has been an excessive amount of and gone on for too lengthy.

“I am devastated by it. I do not assume it is a resolution for something. I do not imagine in warfare, and I do not look after warfare. I do not assume anybody in our household needed this warfare to start out. All we needed is to get Carmel, my cousin, again residence and to get all the opposite hostages again residence,” Dickmann mentioned.

“I actually hate the truth that the lives of so many individuals on each side of the border are misplaced. I hate it, and I hate being a part of it. I do not know the way to cease it, and I do not know if the factor to do is to get the hostages again after which take care of it, or do it diplomatically, I do not know. However I do know that this should cease.”

Haley Ott

Haley Ott is cbsnews.com’s international reporter, based mostly within the CBS Information London bureau. Haley joined the cbsnews.com crew in 2018, previous to which she labored for shops together with Al Jazeera, Monocle, and Vice Information.