This is one of two articles featuring voices from Israel and Gaza to mark the 100-day war between Israel and Hamas. Please also read: CBS News producer Marwan al-Ghoul on 100 “miserable” days in Gaza.
One hundred days since Hamas attacked southern Israel, sparking the deadliest war yet between the country and the group that has ruled the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades, Gil Dickmann's 39-year-old cousin is among the 136 hostages believed to be still alive still being held captive in the Gaza Strip, and he's not sure what's going on.
“Now we are desperate,” Dickmann told CBS News. “The purpose of the second phase of the war, the push through Earth, as they told us, was to get the hostages back… and the hostages are not here.”
A family photo shows Carmel Gat, who was visiting her parents at their kibbutz in southern Israel when Hamas militants stormed the Gaza border and kidnapped her on October 7, 2024. Courtesy of the Gat family
Dickmann's cousin, Carmel Gat, was visiting her parents at a kibbutz in southern Israel, where they were living when Hamas militants stormed the Gaza border on Oct. 7, ambushing the community and killing Gat's mother. They captured Gat and her sister-in-law Yarden Roman-Gat.
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Roman-Gat was released after 54 days as part of a prisoner exchange during a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but Gat was not.
Israeli hostage Yarden Roman-Gat shares details of his captivity in Gaza | 60 minutes
“We really hoped that on the eighth day of the armistice we would also get Carmel, my cousin, back,” said Dickmann. “But exactly one day before their time came, the deal fell through.”
“They forgot about us”
Despite increasing international pressure to scale back its military response to the Hamas attack, Israel has vowed to complete its mission to dismantle the group, saying it will take at least the rest of this year to do so. One of the Israeli government's stated priorities is to secure the release of the remaining hostages, but there are no signs that a breakthrough is expected any time soon.
Dickmann is one of hundreds of family members of the hostages who have been waiting, hoping and pushing to get them back, and he has become increasingly disillusioned and angry with the progress made by the Israeli government, military and international partners.
“We were told that the aim of the war was to get the hostages back, and I know that there is another aim of the war, which is to destroy Hamas. It's been 100 days and Hamas is still there, and the hostages are still there, so something has to happen [have gone] wrong,” Dickmann told CBS News. “As a person, I don't believe in war as a solution to anything, but they promised that this was the way to get the hostages back.” If it doesn't work, maybe you should try something else. And I don't know if they'll try anything different.
Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat is being held hostage in Gaza, poses in the entrance of the Gat family's partially destroyed home, which lay in ruins after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, in a photo taken on December 13, 2023. Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty
Dickmann says he and the other relatives of the remaining hostages haven't received much information from officials and they are concerned that discussions about what might happen after the war ends will keep their family members from being a priority.
“They forgot about us,” he said. “I'm really trying to get answers but I'm not really getting them because they're just telling me to wait.”
CBS News reached out to a representative of the Israeli government official handling the situation with the hostages for comment for this story but did not receive a response by the time of publication. On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that “despite all the complexities of the ongoing operation and the various obstacles posed by Hamas, the IDF remains committed to returning all Israeli hostages and crushing Hamas.”
“So many people on both sides of the border”
Dickmann says his perspective on what can and cannot be done to bring the hostages home has changed since the war began.
“If you had asked me three months ago whether an agreement between Israel and Hamas was possible, I would tell you: 'I don't think so.' But now we know it's possible because there was a deal between Israel and Hamas. We know it’s something that can actually happen.”
About 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage in Hamas' attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli officials. According to the Israeli army, 136 people are currently still in captivity in Gaza.
According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, over 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7 and tens of thousands more have been displaced in what the United Nations has described as a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
The United Nations warns that Palestinians are facing starvation in Gaza
Dickmann says the violence was too great and lasted too long.
“I am devastated by this. I don't think it's a solution to anything. I don't believe in war and I'm not interested in war. I don't think anyone in our family wanted this war to start.” “All we wanted was to bring Carmel, my cousin, home and bring all the other hostages home,” Dickmann said.
“I really hate that so many people’s lives are being lost on both sides of the border. I hate it and I hate being a part of it. I don't know how to stop it, and I don't know.” Whether it's about getting the hostages back and then dealing with it or doing it diplomatically, I don't know. But I know this has to stop.”
Israel and Hamas at war
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