“We came here, because Greece is an important country for us, for its relations with the Middle East, and we believe that it will help in every possible way”, in order to return to their homes the Israelis held hostage by Hamas since the night of October 7, said the former Israeli diplomat Ram Aviram which coordinates her NGO Hostages and Missing Persons Family Forumwho together with the families of two kidnapped young Israelis, gave a press conference in the afternoon in a central hotel in Athens.

These are two of the 242 families who are anxious about the fate of their loved ones, who have decided to present the tragic case of their children to as large an audience as possible. Besides, as they mentioned, only 20-25% of these families can function socially, while the rest cannot bear it.

On their mission to Greece, one of the many countries they plan to visit in Europe and elsewhere, they saw her President of the Republic Katerina Sakelaropoulou, who “expressed her undivided understanding to the mothers”, the Archbishop, who promised that together with other spiritual leaders “he will do everything in his power”, the Speaker of the Parliament who in turn said he would use as much power as the Greek parliament has for the release of young Israelis.

“We found a lot of support here and we hope you have the strength to help,” said 26-year-old Eli David, Eviatar’s brother who has been missing for 30 days. Ever since his brother went missing that night when he went to the festival, the family has been living a “nightmare”. We are trying to inform, create vigilance, that Eviatar comes home quickly and that this never happens again, he added.

“We would ally with the devil to achieve it,” he emphasized, not hiding his emotion.

The two mothers tried to articulate between sobs, constantly uttering the word “nightmare.”

“We lost the sense of time, we forgot about normal life, 30 days we don’t know what’s going on,” she said Galia Davidmother of Abiathar.

We decided to go everywhere. We show the photos – taken from the video sent to them by the kidnappers – and tell our story, says Orit Meir, Almog’s mother.

Excerpts from these videos were shown during the press conference while the families held the photos of their loved ones, causing an emotional response from everyone in attendance.

When asked by APE-MPE, how would you like the next day to be for Israelis and Palestinians, Eviatar’s brother answered: “We want to live in peace with the Palestinians. Our problem is with Hamas and what they did is unacceptable. It is not only politically but also humanitarianly unacceptable. With the Palestinians we want to find a way to a peaceful life.”