‘Where are you?’: Israeli families of hostages urge women’s groups to speak up
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People gather in front of the United Nations Headquarters in Jerusalem demanding that action be taken to return the hostages.
PHOTO: REUTERS
TEL AVIV – Choking back tears and shaking with anger, families and supporters of Israeli women and girls held captive by Hamas in Gaza lashed out at global women’s rights groups on Monday, asking why they have not spoken up for their loved ones.
Dozens of the hostages captured by Hamas gunmen during their Oct 7 rampage through southern Israel are women and girls of all ages, from toddlers to the elderly.
Their families, during a media event in Tel Aviv, urged women‘s groups, particularly those connected to the United Nations, to speak up and advocate for their release.
They also highlighted some of the health issues that the female captives are dealing with: breast cancer, heart disease, diabetes, asthma.
“Where are you when we most needed you,” said Ms Yarden Gonen, whose sister, Romi, 23, was shot in the hand as she was being captured from an outdoor dance festival. “Don’t turn your back on our women, or on us.”
Ms Reuma Tarshansky’s teenage son was killed in a Hamas attack on their home in Kibbutz Be’eri and her daughter, Gali, 13, was taken captive.
“Every mother of an adolescent girl... who is going through changes, physical changes, hormonal changes, anything else a woman could understand, (knows) what a 13 year-old-girl goes through,” she said.
“I don’t know what my girl is going through over the past month. I can only imagine.”
The Hamas attack over a month ago sparked the war in Gaza, where Israel has since carried out a devastating bombardment and ground offensive.
“It is well known, well researched and well documented that women and girls suffer more during captivity,” said Ms Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, an Israeli legal expert and a former vice-chair of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, who spoke at the event.
Two speakers singled out the group UN Women, which put out a report in October on the impact of the crisis on Palestinian women and girls in Gaza.
“Where are you? Where is your voice? Why is it not heard?” said Ms Kinneret Stern, whose cousin, Ms Moran Stela Yanai, 40, was taken captive from the music festival.
The rights of Israeli women, she said, “must be equal to those of every woman in the world”.
UN Women, in response to a Reuters query, said it is “gravely concerned about all the hostages, many of whom are women, held by Hamas and continues to call for their immediate and unconditional release across all of our channels and platforms”.
“UN Women unequivocally condemns all forms of violence against women and girls, as well as any use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, which is a grave violation of human rights. It is never acceptable. International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law must be respected and upheld at all times,” it said. REUTERS
