As another week of advocacy begins, leading up to Tuesday's nationwide "Israel Takes a Stand" day, hostage families and concerned citizens gathered at dawn outside the residences of Cabinet ministers Katz, Dermer, Sa'ar, Cohen, Regev, and Dichter.
Yehuda Cohen, father of Nimrod Cohen, protested in front of the home of Defense Minister Israel Katz saying: "Since you hugged me when we met in Tel Aviv, not only has Nimrod not been released, you are also starving him ... You have been promoted, but Nimrod has remained in the same place; he is still inside the tunnel. I came to remind you on the 688th day that an IDF soldier who was sent to defend the country with a broken tank is still sitting in the Gaza tunnels."
Michal Lavie, Omri Miran's sister-in-law, stood in front of Minister Avi Dichter's house. "I'm sure you've seen the videos of Evyatar and Rom, we don't know what Omri looks like," she said, "You're welcome to go outside and look reality in the eye. Where is your accountability? To the citizens of Israel who have been languishing in Hamas captivity for 688 days. What about the values of leaving no one behind in life and death? What about saving lives?"
Hagit Chen, Itai Chen's mother, protested in front of the house of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and said: "I haven't seen my son for 688 days, I don't know where he is, I don't know if I will ever get him back ... Ron Dermer hasn't been willing to meet us for eight months, from the day he took office ... In what kind of country are we living?"
Mor Goddard, the daughter of Manny Goddard, stood in front of the house of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar and shouted: "My father's body was kidnapped to Gaza. First I want to thank you. It is really emotional to go out so early in the morning and come here. I want to say thank you to the police who are treating us with respect - I hope our government will learn from this and treats us with respect."