Former hostage Yocheved Lifshitz on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of reneging on promises he made to Kibbutz Nir Oz during a recent visit to the community, which was ravaged during the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.
Lifshitz, whose husband Oded Lifshitz was kidnapped and murdered by the terrorists, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that her kibbutz had been “completely abandoned by the government and the army” during the massacre.
“We were left for hours in the hands of Hamas [terrorists] who abused, slaughtered, and ate the breakfast left by kibbutz residents,” she told the committee.
Yocheved Lifshitz was released from captivity two weeks after being taken hostage, while her husband was murdered in captivity shortly after being captured, according to the Israel Defense Forces. His body was returned in a ceasefire-hostage deal earlier this year.
“I ask this government, until when? You know that I lost a kilo every two days in captivity — now think about those who are still there. You are discussing everything other than bringing them home. Today, when I travel to Nir Oz, one of the hardest things for me is seeing that 85 percent of the kibbutz is burned, that one in four [residents] has been either kidnapped or murdered, and Bibi remembered to come visit after a year and [nine] months,” she said, using Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nickname.
Netanyahu made promises during that visit, “and the moment he crossed the fence, he forgot about us,” she continued.
She did not detail what those promises were, but may have been referring at least in part to promises to bring back the hostages.
Holocaust survivors advocate for the release of the Gaza hostages at the Knesset in Jerusalem, August 12, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Only last month did the prime minister visit Nir Oz, a community where 117 of 400 residents were either kidnapped or murdered during the massacre. Nine are still held hostage in Gaza. Despite or because of the widespread carnage, most government politicians have stayed away from Nir Oz.
Analysts said at the time that Netanyahu’s decision to finally visit Nir Oz was likely a sign that he was ready to reach a deal with Hamas to end the war and free hostages, but since then negotiations have collapsed. The cabinet last week approved a plan pushed by the prime minister to take over Gaza City, a measure that hostages’ families say will put their loved ones’ lives in peril.
The committee on Tuesday was also addressed by several Holocaust survivors who called on the government to return the hostages.
Survivor Michael Adam recalled being detained by the Nazis in northern France during World War II and held in a camp for nearly a year. He said he was skin and bones when he was released and that the trauma “has plagued us for our entire lives.”
Hannah Gofrit, who was sheltered from the Nazis by Poles, told the committee: “Every day is critical. I hid in closets. I hid in all sorts of places.”
“Please release me from this nightmare,” she said. “My thought is, if on October 7, if the disaster happened to me again and I was a six-and-a-half-year-old child, would someone save me? Would someone care?”
“Wake up, bring everybody home,” another survivor yelled.
Holocaust survivor Hannah Gofrit speaks at a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting, in Jerusalem, August 12, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 28 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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