Seven hundred days after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, 48 Israelis are still in Hamas captivity. That fact should be the country’s defining priority and the measure by which leaders are judged. Families marked the grim milestone, demanding answers.
“Seven hundred days of captivity... to be imprisoned, starved, terrified, longing, lonely. Can anyone even grasp what that means?” former hostage Doron Steinbrecher asked at a Tel Aviv rally.
Her cry should echo in every cabinet meeting, in every war room.
This pain is not abstract. On Friday, Hamas released a new video of hostages Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel. “I can’t believe I am still alive after 22 months of war,” Gilboa-Dalal said.
Such propaganda is intended to break Israel’s spirit. It must instead harden our resolve to bring every Israeli home.
Israel has fought hard, diminishing Hamas’s capabilities. But a war without an endgame is not a strategy.
The endgame must begin with the hostages’ return and continue with a post-Hamas reality in Gaza that prevents a subsequent round. This is not a Left-Right debate. It is a moral imperative.
As the Prime Minister’s Office spokesperson Omer Dostri put it in April, “There is no one who does not want to return our hostages. We are doing everything possible to bring them home,” while rejecting Hamas’s demand to end the war up front.
There is also a growing international focus. French President Emmanuel Macron marked “700 days in degrading conditions of detention” and called for the “immediate release of all the hostages still held by Hamas.”
Allies who speak clearly should be enlisted to help shape the day-after framework and to pressure Hamas’s backers. Unfortunately, Macron disproportionately criticizes Israel and rarely criticizes the terrorist organizations ruling Gaza. He has also been promoting the one-sided acknowledgment of a Palestinian state at the United Nations, which Israel sees as a reward for the October 7 massacre.
The public expects determination and prudence. Reports on Friday said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a plan by former IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Herzi Halevi for a one-time ceasefire to return all captives.
Whether or not that proposal was viable, Israelis deserve transparent explanations regarding how decisions are being made and what paths are most likely to save lives.
Numbers matter because people matter. Forty-eight hostages remain in Gaza. Forty-nine have been murdered in captivity. Those numbers must not become routine statistics.
Eroding the promise that no citizen should be abandoned
Every day that passes erodes Israel’s promise that no citizen will be abandoned. The government should treat the hostages’ release as the turning point that moves the country from attrition to culmination, pairing talks with pressure, then rallying regional and international partners to lock in a post-Hamas order that prevents future attacks.
Leadership means stating clear goals, choosing the best available tools, and owning the consequences. It also means recognizing that Hamas uses videos and messaging to terrorize Israelis and to parade victory narratives.
The answer is unity of purpose, not paralysis. The IDF has delivered heavy blows, and the state can and should keep building leverage, but this must be converted into outcomes measured in living people returning to their families.
President Isaac Herzog spoke for many when he told Pope Leo XIV, “We must do everything to return them as quickly as possible,” while noting that the 48 Israelis were still in Gaza as the 700-day mark neared. Moral clarity from Israel’s head of state is welcome, but it must be matched by coordinated policy among the cabinet, the security services, and diplomats.
Jerusalem has rightly warned that Hamas’s videos will neither weaken Israel’s resolve nor divert it from achieving its goals. Families of the captives have asked the public and media not to participate in the terrorist group’s psychological warfare by amplifying staged images. The state should back that guidance with consistent messaging and with action that shortens the captives’ ordeal rather than simply commenting on it.
Seven hundred days is 700 too many. Let them go, and end this war with purpose. Let our people come home and turn the page from endless campaigning to responsible resolutions, now.