Shahar Mor has spent much of the last eight months worrying about his uncle Avraham Munder, who is being held hostage in Gaza.
Almost every day, the data analyst attends a protest in his hometown of Tel Aviv to put pressure on the Israeli government to agree to a deal to release the remaining hostages, who were taken on October 7, 2023 by Hamas militants.
Mor is terrified at the prospect that a cease-fire might come too late.
"We're bracing ourselves for more bad news because it has taken too long. Even if they reach a deal tomorrow, it will be too late for many of the hostages. Many of them are already dead," he told DW a day after the Israeli military announced that four more hostages aged 51 to 84, who were being held in Khan Younis, had died in captivity.
On May 31, US President Joe Biden presented a new cease-fire deal that would include the release of the hostages, but there seems to be little interest from Hamas or the Israeli government, said Mor.
"Both sides want to continue fighting for a bit more, flatter their base a bit more, but President Biden's initiative is to force them down and actually end this ordeal, not a minute too soon." Mor added that he had very little faith in his government. "It's doing whatever is within its reach to sabotage reaching any agreement."
Mor said his uncle turned 79 in captivity and had a number of health problems. He was taken from........