"I want to know who I need to talk to and what needs to be done to get Eitan and the other hostages out of there," Iair Horn told his family yesterday (Saturday), just hours after being released from Hamas captivity, while his brother remains held by the terrorist organization. "I was there, I know the suffering, I need to get them out."
His sister-in-law, Dalia Kushnir, shared: "This happened two hours after he returned, before he even finished his medical exams, before he ate—he asked what could be done. He has a lot of strength." She revealed the difficult reality Iair is now facing: "He doesn't know basic things. Until two days before his release, he was completely cut off. Only now is he learning who was murdered and who survived in Nir Oz." According to her, Horn has not yet turned on the smartphone he received, and his family is gradually informing him of the news.
The soccer match that worried Iair in captivity
Kushnir recounted his experiences from captivity: "They passed the time playing cards and talking about sports. Each person shared about their life. There were times with almost no food, and times when there was a little more." She added that when Horn saw on TV a soccer match of Hapoel Be'er Sheva and banners with his name, he was shocked: "He had no exposure to the media and didn't grasp the extent of the publicity."
Ahead of his release, when he was first exposed to the different colored shirts worn by the hostage families, white, black, red, and yellow ribbons, he expressed concern over possible divisions in the struggle. "It was very important to him to make sure all the families were fighting together, that there were no factions or divisions," his sister-in-law explained. "We told him we made red shirts because of Hapoel Be'er Sheva and that there is a huge movement, including the Hostages' Square, he flew over it when he returned and didn't understand what it was."
