For the family of Guy Gilboa, this is a painful chapter that unexpectedly became a story that gripped the nation. They still endure his anguishing uncertainty about his fate. Guy was taken hostage by Hamas at the Nova festival, alongside some 250 others. Today, his face is all over Israel on posters plastered from crowded international airports to rural home garden fences. These photographs act as an unrelenting reminder of the anguish suffered by his family and friends.
Daily, headline after headline, we can read about Guy’s worsening condition. Around him, everyone passionate as they argue for his fate on primetime talk shows and subsequent parliamentary floor debates. His brother, Gal, has emerged as a passionate activist on Guy’s behalf. He writes candidly about their family’s emotional turmoil, and their undying hope for a future reunion.
Guy’s love of Japanese culture had always been a source of pride for him. To learn it, he completely taught himself the language. So inspired after attending the Nova festival, he even purchased a ticket to fly out to Japan himself! Sadly, that dream stands in jeopardy now.
On October 7, when the attack began, Guy and Gal were cut off from each other in a momentous attack. Guy was forced to spend an excruciating ten hours running, hiding, and attempting to reach his younger brother. After Gal’s urgent emergency call to him that day, Guy never answered the phone again.
As the months go by with no updates about Guy’s fate, the emotional burden on his family has grown heavier. They call themselves a “large family,” brought together by the common horror of having a family member kidnapped and held hostage. Guy’s family tell us they are getting more messages from other hostages who were held alongside Guy, but their hearts are still heavy with fear.
Gal opened up about the horrific toll it’s taken on their family relationships. His young sister thrown into growing up faster than she should, and their mom and dad literally aging because of it. “It’s so hard missing him all day every day, thinking about him all day every day,” Gal expressed.
The brothers’ bond is unbroken by distance and uncertainty. Gal dreams that his brother Guy will someday take him to his dream destination of Japan. He confesses that when the day turns into a week, it’s just too much to take the pain. “As time goes by it’s getting harder and harder [to bear], and harder and harder to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he lamented.
Gal also expressed envy for families who have received their loved ones back after being released from captivity. “I have to say the truth: I am honestly jealous seeing them reunited with their loved ones, seeing this nightmare has ended for them,” he said. He wishes for the day when he will cry tears of joy when he’s reunited with his son.
It’s not just Guy’s current unpredictable health that looms over Gal. All I can think about is my brother. His horrific screams from the tubes of Hamas ring in my thoughts as he inquires what I’ve accomplished for him today, what else I am able to do, once we will return.
Gal is determined to stick to the fight to bring his brother back home. “I can never stop fighting for him,” he stated.
The trauma of what happened at the Nova festival will never go away. Gal described seeing horror as people ran for their lives from gunmen. He remembered civilians running at him with blood all over their clothes. They were SHOUTING THAT TERRORISTS WERE ABOUT TO GET THEM.
Each passing day, the possibility of coming to a solution sinks further into despair. Despite himself, Gal latches onto his unfurling memories of a happier life with his brother. He reflects on how their lives were infused with love and aspiration up until that tragic day.