Eyal Eshel, father of fallen soldier Roni, who was killed in action at Nahal Oz on October 7, expressed shock at how the IDF handed over the recordings of the day leading up to the massacre to the families.
"Some parents received it by email, others on a flash drive. In terms of content – almost nothing. I say this with much sorrow: the cover-up and concealment continue here in full. We thought maybe the IDF learned something, but we see this body continues to work deceitfully," Eshel accused in an interview.
"We were misled. This isn't how it should have been. We had to go through a legal process, and why? We won in court to hear the last minutes of our daughters. But even after the legal process, we're learning there's a huge lack in the files we received," he added.
According to him, "I have nothing from these recordings of Roni, which contradicts everything we know from the investigation I conducted and from the one published yesterday about Nahal Oz. The observers were asked to scan the areas during the night hours, but there's an empty window from Friday at six in the evening until four in the morning on Saturday. It’s an audio file that is a mess, the girls' entire recordings. They didn't filter per soldier, but sent us something very noisy, at very specific times. They threw it at us and said: 'deal with this on your own.’"
He characterizd the army's attitude as "contempt and negligence." "They threw us the recordings – 'Take it and do what you want.' At least do it in an orderly manner, just to honor the girls. We haven't been respected for a long time, but at least respect the girls who are no longer, with memories for each family of their daughter."
Eshel directs his anger at Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi. "First and foremost, this is the Chief of Staff of the State of Israel who did not respect himself or even our request to meet with him. He hasn't met with any of the families, not even the Deputy Chief of Staff. Over the year and a quarter, there hasn't been a single meeting, despite requests from us. He has an entire corps responsible for these girls: the Border Defense Corps, the Communications Corps, up to the Spokesperson. Daniel, is this what we deserve? We have dialogue with Daniel, not in filth and venom, but in the end, is this what we receive?"
He promised the struggle would continue. "We are moving forward with full force. There is no matter of revenge here; I want to bring the truth out. I want every household in Israel to know what happened on the morning of October 7 and what happened in the hours before."