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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Sam Mednick

Israeli father says even in Hamas captivity, his daughter heard his pleas to come home alive

Mideast Wars Freed Hostage - (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

For more than 470 days, Eitan Gonen publicly pleaded with his daughter to stay alive while in Hamas captivity. He didn't know if she would hear him, but he ended every interview he gave with the same hopeful message: Romi is coming home alive.

When he finally got to speak to his daughter for the first time in 15 months after she and two other women were freed Jan. 19, he got his answer.

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