Sigalit Salminis
Aunt of the hostage Carmel Gat.
“From the moment I wake up until the moment I fall asleep, Carmel is constantly on my mind.
How is she held there? Does she have enough food and water? What is she thinking about?
I can’t bear the fact she’s being held hostage, probably inside a dark and suffocating tunnel in Gaza.
What keeps me going is my belief in her strength. I believe that she is alive, and so there is still hope to bring her back home.
Kinneret, Carmel’s mother, was not that ‘privileged’ as she was murdered in that horrendous terrorist attack on the same morning they took Carmel.
Alon, Carmel’s brother, was also kidnapped with his Partner Yarden, and their three-year-old daughter Geffen.
They were taken into a car with four Hamas terrorists heading to Gaza. Luckily, as they neared the border with Gaza, they saw an IDF tank and in a split second, they decided to take a chance and jumped out of the car. As they ran, Yarden handed over Geffen to Alon, knowing Alon could run faster than she could. Alon who held Geffen ran as fast as he could – escaping the terrorists’ gunfire. When he had the chance to turn around to see where Yarden was, he saw her hiding behind the trees.
That was the last time he saw her.
The State of Israel was established first and foremost to be a safe haven for its’ citizens.
On October 7th, 2023 the state of Israel utterly failed to protect them. Seventy-five years ago, in the building behind me, the founding fathers of the state of Israel signed the Declaration of Independence which at its core stated the creation of a free, sovereign, and independent state for its citizens. The state of Israel has the duty to give Carmel, Yarden, and all of the other hostages their independence back. as stated in the declaration: “to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex.”