Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in D.C. where he’ll address a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday, and it comes as Hamas militants continue to hold dozens of hostages following the deadly attack on Israel back in October.
“We’re really worried,” said Efrat Moshkoviz, the aunt of 20-year-old Naama Levy, one of the people still taken hostage.
Moshkoviz, who lives in New Jersey, is in D.C. for Netanyahu’s speech.
She was invited by California Democratic Rep. Jimmy Panetta, and she plans to talk to members of Congress about her family’s concerns.
“It’s an emotional roller coaster,” said Moshkoviz. “Every day is a mixture of the concern, the worry and the agony around that.”
Levy was a soldier who was kidnapped from an army base near Gaza.
According to Moshkoviz, video that was circulated online shows her being handcuffed and thrown into a black Jeep.
“We can’t even comprehend what she must be going through,” Moshkoviz said.
Hamas militants killed roughly 1,200 people in Israel on Oct. 7 last year, and kidnapped around 250 — many taken from their bedrooms.
Since then, the Israeli army has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians while fighting Hamas in Gaza, according to local health officials who do not distinguish between civilians and militants in their count.
Around 120 hostages remain in Gaza, though Israel believes at least 40 of them are dead. During a temporary cease-fire in November, 105 hostages were released.
A few hostages have been rescued alive, and the Israeli military has recovered the bodies of others during military operations.
Moshkoviz told WTOP the main thing she would like to hear from Netanyahu is that securing the release of the remaining hostages is his top priority.
“I really want to hear that very explicit commitment that it’s going to get done,” she said. “That is the main hope and the main expectation. Somehow, time keeps passing and yet, we stand still.”
Israel’s war has been intensely divisive in the United States, spurring protests and resulting in arrests on college campuses, alienating some voters on both sides of the issue, and frustrating months of effort by U.S. President Joe Biden to bring the fighting to a close.
The trip is the first time Netanyahu has traveled abroad since the war broke out in October.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
