Hostage relative: Israeli and Palestinian suffering must end

DW (English)

More than 22 months since Hamas launched its deadly attacks on southern Israel, the Islamist militant group is still holding 50 hostages in Gaza, seven of whom have German citizenship. Frustration is mounting among their families, with many accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing them. DW News spoke with Efrat Machikawa, a relative of five former hostages.

Transcript

00:00Right. Efrat Machikawa joins me now from southern Israel.

00:04Five of her family members were at one point being held by Hamas.

00:08Hello and welcome, Efrat.

00:10How are your family members doing?

00:15It's difficult.

00:18No one in Israel will be on stage of recovery

00:21unless the whole 50 hostages will be home

00:27and we will see the end of the catastrophe around us

00:31and recovery will be starting.

00:36No one is complete.

00:38We are all in terrible sorrow of seeing what happened.

00:42I remind you that on October 7th,

00:45250 hostages were taken from their beds

00:49and now there are still 50 and all the selection

00:53and the ongoing war and the terrible situation

00:57in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis everywhere

01:01and Hamas still holding and still terrorizing

01:05not only Israel but also the Palestinians.

01:09It's hard.

01:10But we're not giving hope.

01:12We're not giving up to hope.

01:14We are looking forward, a ceasefire, an end to this terrible war

01:20and the return of all 50 hostages at once,

01:25maybe not on the same day, but at once, no selection,

01:32and bringing hope to our Mediterranean region.

01:36Right, right.

01:37I mean, as you say, 50 hostages still remain with Hamas

01:42and it must be frustrating, I should say, right?

01:46Israelis, in our report, are not happy with the efforts

01:49of the Netanyahu government to free them.

01:51What are your thoughts on how it's been going so far?

01:54I belong to the 85% of the Israelis who say we are not our government.

02:03We want this war to end and we know that the release

02:10of the hostages will do that.

02:12It has to stop.

02:14There has been too much suffering.

02:18There is no end to the cycle of violence.

02:21I think that it is upon the international community

02:25and we thank President Trump for leading it,

02:30to call for end of the war and the return of all hostages home

02:35so people will be able to return to respectful life,

02:40to respectful conditions, to some kind of a resilience

02:45that will grow in order for us to go back to normal life.

02:50But you know that as long as Hamas is terrorizing

02:54the Middle East, Gaza, and Israel, we are in danger.

03:00This Islamic extremist is actually hurting their own people,

03:08including ours, no matter whether we are Jews or Muslim

03:14or Druze or Kurdish, it doesn't matter.

03:17So we have to be very, very careful in describing the situation.

03:23The terror has to end and the suffering both of the Palestinians

03:28themselves and ours must end.

03:32It is a catastrophe.

03:35It's heartbreaking to see what's happening.

03:39You are a cultural diplomacy specialist.

03:41You just returned from a trip to Germany with other hostage family members.

03:47Yes.

03:48So it really begs the question, what do you make of Germany's role

03:52in helping with the return of hostages and end the war in Gaza?

03:56I think that we want to thank Germany for everything they did until now,

04:04but we are on a critical point.

04:07And this is why we went.

04:09We want all Germans to know there are still seven German citizens

04:15held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

04:19So we asked the German government to talk more, to explain,

04:25to show the catastrophe and to take responsibility in making sure

04:29that the German hostages are coming back out of Gaza,

04:34but not all of them because we are not talking about selection.

04:38We think Germany is taking responsibility and doing.

04:42They could do more.

04:43We would like more leaders to announce that publicly.

04:48And we want Germany to push the countries they know they can push.

04:53We need an international coalition to end this humanitarian catastrophe.

05:00And we're there with Germany, with the rest of the world,

05:05and with the United States calling, stop the war, bring the hostages back,

05:10bring hope to the Middle East, Palestinians and Israelis as well.

05:17Right.

05:18Efrat Machikawa in Israel.

05:21Thank you very much.

05:23Thank you very much.

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