The Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee convened today (Tuesday) for a preliminary discussion on the haredi draft law regarding conscription. The session was chaired by the committee’s new head, MK Boaz Bismuth (Likud), for the first time.
During the meeting, released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz said that Nir Oz had been “completely abandoned by the government and the army,” leaving residents at the mercy of Hamas forces for hours. Lifshitz described being tortured in captivity, losing a kilogram every two days, and urged the government to take immediate action to rescue the remaining hostages.
She also highlighted the devastation to her community, noting that 85% of Nir Oz was destroyed and that one in four residents had either been killed or kidnapped. Lifshitz criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for only visiting the kibbutz nearly two years after the attack, saying, “As soon as he crossed the border, he forgot about us.”
Yotam Cohen, brother of abducted IDF soldier Nimrod Cohen, also addressed the committee. He revealed that his brother had been deployed to Nir Oz with a faulty tank, leaving his unit unable to defend themselves and resulting in their capture. “My brother has been held captive for nearly two years,” Cohen said, comparing his situation to that of other hostages, including Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski.