Families of fallen IDF soldiers and captives held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip began a three-day protest this week to pressure the Israeli government to increase efforts to secure the return of the captives and the bodies of the fighters.
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"The biggest deception that recent governments tell the public is that efforts are being made to return captives. No effort is being made to get them back," said Tzur Goldin, brother of Hadar Goldin, who fell in 2014 during Operation Protective Edge, and whose body has since been kept in Gaza.
"Today we are marching in place of the governments. All the terrorists have been released, all the gifts, the money, everything has been given to Hamas," he said. "They continuously exchange with Hamas and abandoned the soldiers."
Along with Goldin, Hamas is holding the body of Oron Shaul, who also fell during the 2014 operation in Gaza. The captives – Hisham al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu – voluntarily crossed the border into the strip between 2014 and 2015 and have been held captive ever since. Most recently, Hamas said that Sayed's health had deteriorated.
The families march began from the Goldin family in Kfar Saba in central Israel, which will end in the country's south at the security barrier separating Israel and Gaza.
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