Rachel Younger speaks to Orit Zadikevitch, a close friend of the Berman family who describes herself as a second mother to twins Gali and Ziv
A close family friend of twin brothers taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 from Kibbutz Kfar Aza has told ITV News the community did not know whether the brothers were believed to be alive until they saw the list of names released last week.
Gali and Ziv Berman are understood to be among 20 living hostages due to be released within the next 24 hours, along with the remains of 28 people, taken captive by Hamas two years ago. The proscribed terror group has until midday local time on Monday to release the remaining hostages. Israel will free hundreds of Palestinian detainees in return.
Orit Zadikevitch, who describes herself as a second mother to Gali and Ziv, said she is suffering sleepless nights in anticipation of the 28-year-olds’ release.
“I can’t sleep now for good reasons. Before that, I couldn’t sleep for bad reasons. We are all the mothers together. We are all the families together.”
She said families and friends would gather together to celebrate the hostages’ release as a community, as they had mourned as one.
“We want to be together. It’s a community. We suffer together. And now we want to be together to be happy, finally again,” she said.
“We cannot stop thinking about the people that we lost. But we want, for a few hours, to be happy, not to act happy, [but] to be happy from the inside. Because Gali and Ziv are alive. They’re coming back.”
Ms Zadikevitch said the brothers’ loved ones had no update on their condition for two years, and did not know whether they were dead or alive.
“We didn’t know if they were alive until the list of 20 people,” she said, referring to the names released by Hamas to Israel last week after ceasefire talks.”
She continued: “We didn’t know anything about them for two years. We were so worried about them. We didn’t know what they were going through. We heard they tortured our hostages; they starved them. We didn’t know if they were alive. You know, every day they can just decide to shoot them.”
Ms Zadikevitch and Gali and Ziv’s mother gave birth to their children in the same hospital within weeks of each other. The boys grew up together and were always together in Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
“I didn’t give birth to them, but they’re my kids. This is why I used to say to everyone these things. There are my kids. And imagine… your kids are gone. And you don’t know if they’re alive. Think about your kid. If for two hours you don’t know where he is. You start to make phone calls.”
She added: “We have to see them alive. This is the first step. And then we continue.”
Sixty-four members of Ms Zadikevitch’s community were killed on October 7 after Hamas’ rampage through the kibbutz, including her former husband, who she described as the love of her life, and her brother-in-law. She went to eight funerals a day for two weeks in the aftermath of the attack.
Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.
In Israel’s ensuing offensive, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Israel is set to release around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the remaining hostages.
Several weeks ago, Ms Zadikevitch’s son got engaged to his long-term girlfriend. When he told her, Ms Zadikevitch replied: “Don’t do it without Gali and Ziv.”
Now, the couple have set the date. Ms Zadikevitch said: “We’re going to have a celebration, and they’re going to be there.”
The brothers have survived two years in captivity. Ms Zadikevitch credits their love for life and their families for keeping them alive.
“They are very happy people, they really wanted their life back. They wanted to celebrate their life.”
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