Hope and heartbreak in Tel Aviv: Guy Gilboa Dalal turns 24 in Hamas captivity as Edan Alexander freed from Gaza
ALL ISRAEL NEWS reporter, Oriel Moran, was at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on Tuesday for two important events. In what Moran described as a very special and emotional day, Edan Alexander, the last of the American Israeli hostages, was released from Hamas. Simultaneously, a crowd had gathered together with the families of the hostages to mark the 24th birthday of Guy Gilboa-Dalal, calling the event a “night of hope.”
Gilboa-Dalal was taken hostage from the Nova Music Festival at the age of 22, and has now endured two birthdays in captivity.
The Hamas terror group recorded a propaganda video of Gilboa-Dalal together with his friend Evyatar David. They had been secretly taken in a van to the scene where a hostage release was taking place in February, and were forced to watch their friends walk free while they remained imprisoned. The video exploits their psychological torture as they beg for their lives and beg to be released, imploring the public to fight for them.
According to the Times of Israel, Ilan Dalal, Guy's father, said, “They forced them to watch their friends being released and then returned them to the tunnels. There is no greater cruelty.” “They can’t continue. It’s simply inhumane," he added.
It might seem strange to refer to hope at such an event, given that the hostages have been held in captivity under horrific conditions for 19 months, but the Gilboa-Dalal family, like all the hostage families, wants to focus on hope for his return.
The event to honor Gilboa-Dalal’s birthday was a celebration of the person that he is, with videos and songs created as a tribute to him and the ordeal he is going through, and of course, expressing the longing for his return soon. Many people had come to stand in solidarity with the families, expressing great empathy for Gilboa-Dalal and all who are suffering.
“Every single person that I have talked to says the same thing,” Moran reported. “They say… what if it was me? I'm the same age as Guy Gilboa-Dalal, what if it was me? What if it was my friend? What if it was my brother, what if it was my son?” She commented on the spirit of unity at the event, as everyone came together to support the hostages, and will continue to do so until each one of them is free.
Jo Elizabeth has a great interest in politics and cultural developments, studying Social Policy for her first degree and gaining a Masters in Jewish Philosophy from Haifa University, but she loves to write about the Bible and its primary subject, the God of Israel. As a writer, Jo spends her time between the UK and Jerusalem, Israel.
