Family members of slain hostages share their emotional struggles, criticizing the government for a lack of support and calling for a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 failures.
Family members of slain hostages spoke on the lack of government support they received, along with the emotional struggle after having their loved ones kidnapped following the October 7 Hamas attacks, during a special panel ahead of Remembrance Day at the Knesset’s Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women and Gender Equality on Sunday.
Ayelet Samerano, mother of Yonatan Samerano, who was murdered on October 7 and whose remains were kidnapped into Gaza, told the panel, “Since my son returned, I feel invisible,” expressing how she lacked government assistance.
“On the day he [his remains] returned, I couldn’t go to work, even though during his captivity I worked to clear my head. I am broken and cannot get up. Before the kidnapping, I earned one of the highest salaries.”
She also said it was too emotionally difficult to stay in Israel on Remembrance Day. “This is the third Remembrance Day I have spent abroad.”
She later broke into tears, saying that on the day her son’s remains were returned, “I felt like a vacuum was inserted into my body and I was emptied from within.
Family members of slain hostages spoke of the lack of government support and emotional struggle at Knesset panel. April 19, 2026. (credit: Knesset Press Office)
Mothers and family members described pain, economic and emotional collapse amid the lack of recognition and aid from the state.
Chairperson of the committee MK Meirav Cohen (Yesh Atid) told the panel that of the 255 hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 Hamas attacks in 2023, 87 were returned deceased, 41 were killed or murdered in captivity.
“Behind these numbers are names, faces, lives cut short, and families who have never stopped loving and never stopped fighting,” she said.
Esther Buchshtab, mother of the late Yagev Buchshtab, recounted that in the first year after the October 7 attacks, she had been “full of hope” that she would be able to bring her son back, “but it didn’t happen.”
Recounting her story, she explained that her family had felt “helpless, alone, that the struggle was on us as a family.”
‘We believed we could bring all the hostages back’
“We believed the state would do everything to bring all the hostages back. One day, we were told Yagev was no longer alive and were asked to keep it secret due to intelligence concerns,” she recounted.
“Then the announcement was retracted, and about two months later, we received the devastating news again, this time confirmed.”
“After we buried him, our lives fell into despair. At the end of the funeral, I understood that our story was over, but the struggle to return the hostages was not, because others were still there, and we continued fighting until the last hostage.”
Doris Liber, mother of the late Guy Illouz, shared the moment of her son’s kidnapping in tears to the panel, and explained that she experienced post-traumatic stress attacks caused by the sequence of events.
“Guy was my only son. I have no family support,” she said, adding that she was not able to be recognized as a victim of terror.
Hagit Chen, mother of the late Itay Chen, addressed the committee remotely. She explained the financial hardship after the loss of her son, due to the difficulty in functioning after the loss.
“We are not capable of working,” she said.
“What we went through during the two years and two months that Itay was held hostage is unimaginable. Our family is completely broken. I have two other children, I am unable to function as a mother for.”
Itay’s father, Roby Chen, added that their business turnover dropped by 80%.” I feel like we were sent to a parallel universe with no anchors,” he told the panel.
Emuna Libman, sister of the late Elyakim Libman, recounted that on October 7, her brother called from the Supernova music festival, where he informed her that he was being shot at and asked for help.
“He stayed to treat the wounded. We were shown a video of him being kidnapped and brought to Gaza. In the end, we were told he was burned in an ambulance,” she explained.
She said that she arrived at the Knesset to represent her family and the siblings of hostage families.
“The coping is extremely difficult. I am a social worker with two degrees, and other family members and I are unemployed and unable to return to work.”
She explained that as the sibling of a former hostage, she and other family members are not officially recognized with the hostage family status by the state.
She added that her family had lived about 210 days believing Itay was a hostage, before finding out that he had already been murdered.
Family members of slain hostages spoke of the lack of government support and emotional struggle at Knesset panel. April 19, 2026. (credit: Knesset Press Office)
‘Hamas held my son as a bargaining chip’
Rachel Tzarfati, mother of the late Ofir Tzarfati, told the panel that she received her son’s remains in three different segments and was forced, as a result, to carry out three burials.
“We buried him three times and received three pathological reports. The third time, I wanted to be buried next to him,” she said.
“Hamas held my son as a bargaining chip. The state didn’t bother to tell me I would receive my son in stages and have to bury him in parts. There is no rehearsal for a mother who has to cope with the loss of a child.”
Yaron Cohen, head of the Directorate for Hostages, Missing and Returnees, told the panel that, “There may be a feeling that the event is over, but in some ways we understand that it is only the beginning.”
“There are families who were exposed for a long time to unbearable events and continuous psychological terror.”
Though Cohen explained different benefits provided to hostage families, Illouz responded that the financial support was not enough to support the families after what they had undergone.
“The Directorate told everyone we receive financial and legal support, but I cannot live on 7,000 shekels,” she said.
Cohen also pointed out that those who were not in the communities bordering Gaza on the morning of October 7 are still not recognized as victims of terror because they were not physically present during the attacks.
‘We failed to bring the hostages home’
Lawmakers attended the panel as well, where MK Shelly Tal Meron (Yesh Atid) said she felt “a deep moral failure.”
“We failed to bring them home fast enough, and now we are failing to provide support to the families,” she said.
MK Simon Davidson (Yesh Atid) said that what the government was doing was not nearly enough.
“We will do everything to ease the economic burden on these families, but also to preserve the memory and not forget the fallen. There are families experiencing a kind of pain that cannot be understood,” he said.
Additionally, the October Council, which represents bereaved family members and victims of October 7, stood outside of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in protest, as well as outside of the homes of other ministers and officials ahead of Remembrance Day.
They called for a state commission of inquiry to be conducted into government failures on October 7.
Bereaved family members stood outside the homes of Education Minister Yoav Kisch, Development of the Negev and Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli, and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana.
Sigal Yehudai, the mother of Ron Yehudai, who was murdered by Hamas at the Supernova music festival, stood outside the home of Ohana and said that she has been trying to survive with two children still at home.
“What are you doing? Continuing to abandon us as if nothing had happened. My children lost their brother’s life. We will not be silent until a state commission of inquiry is established,” she added.
A state commission of inquiry is considered the most authoritative and independent investigative system under Israeli law. It operates entirely outside the political echelon.
Amid the ongoing rift between the government and the judiciary, Netanyahu has repeatedly opposed judicial authorities leading the investigation. The government has instead been advancing a controversial bill that would establish a new investigative mechanism, provoking outrage among bereaved family members and claims of a conflict of interest in the investigation.