- Title: PERSONAL: Her two sons are hostages in Gaza but only one is set to be released
- Date: 16th January 2025
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) RUTH STRUM, MOTHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGES IAIR HORN (46) AND EITAN HORN (38), SAYING: "It is not easy for a mother to hear this. It is more difficult for me thinking about what will happen with them -- and I don't know whether they are together, though deep inside I feel that they are together. But what will happen at that moment when they will be separat
- Embargoed: 30th January 2025 14:48
- Keywords: Gaza Israel Palestinians ceasefire deal hamas captivity hostages mother
- Location: KFAR SAVA, ISRAEL
- City: KFAR SAVA, ISRAEL
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Middle East
- Reuters ID: LVA003369816012025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: News that Israel and Hamas have reached a hostage-release deal after 15 months of war in Gaza is bittersweet for Ruth Strum -- one of her sons is expected to be freed, but a second will be left behind in captivity, for now.
"It is not easy for a mother to hear this," Strum told Reuters on Thursday (January 16), wearing a red t-shirt emblazoned with photos of her two burly sons and the plea: "Bring Iair and Eitan home".
Although she has no information on their whereabouts in the heavily bombarded Gaza Strip, Strum said she was sure they had been kept together.
"But what will happen at the moment when they will be separated and told that one is coming out and one is not?" she said, her voice quivering.
Eitan Horn, 38, was staying with his brother Iair Horn, 46, at his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, near the Gaza fence, when Hamas launched its surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The two men were seized and dragged into the Palestinian enclave along with 249 other Israelis and foreigners, triggering a war that has devastated Gaza. Some 98 hostages are still in captivity, but under the terms of Wednesday's (January 15) ceasefire, only 33 will be released over the next six weeks.
The handover of the remaining 65, some of whom are believed to be dead, is due to be negotiated subsequently.
Since the abduction of Iair and Eitan, Ruth has clung to fragments of information about them. The last confirmation of their well-being came during a brief truce in November 2023, when some released hostages mentioned seeing the brothers alive.
Strum says she talks to them aloud all time, as though they were still with her.
"I ask them to wait just a little longer, it will happen and you will be back with us. I ask for their forgiveness, for all the time that has passed in which they are not back here."
The family originally came from Argentina, but immigrated to Israel to set down roots in Jewish communities. The bushy-bearded Eitan lives with his mother in the centre of the country while Iair embraced community living in a kibbutz.
Since their kidnapping Strum has thrown herself tirelessly into campaigning for the release of all the hostages, whose faces are plastered on posters across Israel, covering bus stops, stapled to trees and wrapped around lampposts.
While she prepares for Iair's return, Ruth allows herself to imagine the moment when both sons will be reunited with her.
"I imagine both their returns," she said. "I will be there for them and whatever they want they'll get. I am waiting for that embrace."
(Production: Janis Laizans, Michal Yaakov Itzhaki, Avivit Delgoshen) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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