Photo by
Majdi Fathi/TPS-IL on 8 February, 2025
Knesset Tensions Rise Over Purim Package Gesture for Hostages
Jerusalem, 10 March, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- Seeking to raise awareness for the plight of 59 hostages held in Gaza, families of the captives distributed Purim food packages containing a single pita bread and a card featuring a quote by a freed hostage on Monday. The bags were tied shut with a yellow ribbon.
“Opening a refrigerator is a whole world to us,” said the quote by Eli Sharabi. He, along with Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levi, were freed by Hamas in emaciated condition on February 8. After 491 days in Gaza, Sharabi lost around 29 kg (66 lbs) of weight.
Sharabi’s wife and two teenage daughters were murdered at Kibbutz Be’eri during Hamas’s October 7 attack.
During a meeting of the Knesset’s Special Committee for Strengthening and Developing the Negev and Galilee, the presentation of “food packages” sparked a testy exchange.
Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli, who opposes releasing Palestinian prisoners for hostages, was confronted by Yotam Cohen, whose brother Nimrod, was abducted from the Nahal Oz army base near the Gaza border.
“I am delighted to give this to you as a token of appreciation, for abandoning our hostages in captivity,” Yotam told Chikli. “I hope that every time you open your refrigerator, you’ll remember that my brother is starving in captivity, and that what I’m bringing you now in a nice bag with a yellow ribbon –what the Hamas terrorists give him to eat in a week. I hope that this will make you feel better.”
Released hostages suffered extreme malnutrition, with some losing up to 40% of their body weight, severe muscle loss and vitamin deficiencies, the Israeli Health Ministry disclosed on March 5.
The Purim food gifts, known as mishloach manot are exchanged by Jews during the holiday and typically contain pastries, sweets, fruit, and sometimes drinks.
Purim celebrates the Jewish people’s survival from a plot to exterminate them in ancient Persia, as described in the Book of Esther. The holiday, which begins on Thursday night at sundown, is celebrated with feasting, costumes, and giving gifts of food and charity.
At least 1,180 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 59 remaining hostages, 36 are believed to be dead.
