Israel

Floor Speech

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Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, as fighting has resumed in Israel and in Gaza, I met with three families whose loved ones became victims of Hamas. One was the sister of Tamar Gutman, a beautiful 27-year-old Israeli woman who disappeared on October 7. Tamar had been attending the Supernova music festival when the terrorists attacked.

Tamar's sister was in touch with her during the morning of the attack as Tamar and her friends tried desperately to hide from the attackers. But Tamar suddenly stopped responding to texts.

Her family presumed she had been abducted and held out hope that she might still be alive. But 27 days after the attack, they finally got footage that indicated that she had been killed.

Tamar's sister told me that as horrible as it was to see the image of her sister's dead body, it was a relief to see that her jeans were still on her body.

But later, when the family recovered or tried to recover Tamar's body to give her a proper burial, they only found a few bones from her thigh and her chest. Her body had been horrifically dismembered, mutilated, and burned.

I also met with friends of Ofir Tzarfati's, who was attending the Supernova music festival as well. He, his girlfriend Shoval, and his friends were there to celebrate his 27th birthday. When rockets began to fall, the friends all got in their cars and began driving toward the exit, but there was a huge traffic jam. Suddenly, hundreds of people started running to the other side of the cars, yelling: ``Terrorists! There are terrorists here! They shot a woman in the head!''

Ofir grabbed his girlfriend Shoval's hand, and they started running. People were freezing in fear and falling from gunfire around them. The couple and a friend hid for 4 hours behind a tree trunk. Shoval and others who had escaped say that Ofir was a hero, that he managed the whole situation to protect them, telling them when to run, when to crouch, when to hide. They saw his bravery, and they followed him.

When an Israeli driver came to offer help, Ofir helped his girlfriend and her friend into the car. But there were already eight people inside that car, and there was no room for him, so Ofir told them to go without him, and he got into another car. Shoval wanted to get in Ofir's car, but the driver already hit the gas and drove off. She called him on the way to tell him where to meet her, but he never made it.

Later, Ofir's loved ones learned that his car was attacked and that he was badly injured, but they held out hope that he was still alive and were told he had been taken captive. Sadly, on November 29, Ofir's family learned that his body had been found in Gaza.

These are just two among the hundreds of innocent people who fell victim to Hamas. But despite the profound grief and despair their families are experiencing, they are dedicating themselves to advocating for the innocent hostages still in captivity.

Last week, I also met with Merav Raviv, whose uncle, Avraham, and aunt, Ruti Munder, were kidnapped together with their daughter, Keren Munder, and her son, Ohad. Ruti, Keren, and Ohad were released, but Avraham is still being held by Hamas. He will turn 79 tomorrow. He is in very poor health, and he needs medication and care. His family said that a kind Israeli woman who was trained to be a nurse was trying to care for him in captivity, but since she has been released, they are very, very worried that he will not survive.

We know what Hamas thinks about the sanctity of human life by what they did to Tamar and Ofir. Every day that the hostages remain in captivity is another day that their lives are at risk.

It is time to bring every hostage home and reunite them with their families. It is the least that we can do to honor the memories of those who have been lost, those who have been killed, those whose bodies have been desecrated, and those who are in deep, deep sorrow.

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