Israel cannot accept a situation where hostages are returned while Hamas retains control of Gaza, Tzvika Mor, the father of Hamas hostage Eitan Mor, said on Monday at the JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem.
“We, at the Tikvah Forum, will never call to end this war and surrender to Hamas,” Mor told the crowd.
His son Eitan, the eldest of eight children, was working as a security guard at the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im on Oct. 7, 2023. According to Mor, Eitan saved dozens of people before being abducted by Hamas at around 12:30 p.m.
“The last thing we know Eitan did was attempt to rescue the body of a girl who had been raped and murdered. This is Eitan’s character—courage, determination and concern for others,” said Mor.
He emphasized that his family remains hopeful. “We know Eitan is alive, and we expect to see him soon. But we are still at war with an enemy who wants to destroy us. Eitan is the great-grandson of Holocaust survivors, my grandparents, most of whom were imprisoned in concentration camps,” he said.
His appearance at the summit was not a plea for mercy but a reminder of Israel’s enduring spirit, he continued.
“Like the Bibas family, the Nazis murdered my grandfather’s wife and two children,” said Mor, referring to Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, who were kidnapped on Oct. 7 and murdered in captivity by Hamas.
“After the Holocaust, he remarried my grandmother. My grandparents came from Hungary and Romania; my wife’s grandparents came from Germany and Romania,” he continued.
“Millions of us were killed and burned, but the Jewish nation will remain forever. We are not a people that exist only for ourselves. On the first day of our Jewish calendar, we pray for the benefit of all humanity. Even today, facing the new Nazis in Gaza, we are humanity’s messenger to destroy them,” he said.
“This war must end with Hamas destroyed, Hamas surrendered, and all hostages returned,” he concluded.
Mor spoke during the Hostages, Victims, and Public Policy panel, which also featured Cochav Elkayam-Levy, chair of Israel’s civil commission investigating Hamas’s crimes against women and children on Oct. 7.
“I stand before you after months of painful documentation, carrying the voices of hundreds of victims—voices that now, more than ever, demand action,” she said.
She detailed the systematic torture families endured at the hands of Hamas, describing it as a previously undefined crime against humanity.
“Chilling patterns emerged: the same cruelty repeated across different places, families and moments. Parents murdered before their children’s eyes, children executed while holding their parents’ arms, families burned alive together, entire families taken hostage,” she said.
“Families were not random victims; they were the target. Hamas understood that torturing families creates suffering so deep it is a grief without end. Together with professor Irwin Cotler, we gave this evil a name: ‘kinocide,’” she continued.
Elkayam-Levy warned that the terror was ongoing.
“Terrorist organizations worldwide are watching. The absence of consequences normalizes the destruction of families as a weapon of war,” she said.
Also speaking at the summit, Religious Zionism lawmaker Simcha Rothman addressed the panel titled “Establishing a New Conceptzia,” where he criticized negotiations with Hamas.
“I am optimistic we will release the hostages. I am pessimistic every time I hear about negotiations,” Rothman told JNS. “The way to return the hostages is not to negotiate—not through Qatar, not through Egypt, not through anyone. You do not negotiate with terrorists.”
Rothman called for a tougher stance, likening the needed approach to that of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“We must tell Hamas, tell Gaza, tell the world: We want all our hostages back immediately, dead or alive, or we will open the gates of hell over you,” he said.
“The cost must be paid 100% by Hamas and the terrorists — not by the victims,” he added.
Meanwhile, hopes for a ceasefire deal remain dim.
“There is no common goal between the sides, and in my opinion, the chances are low,” Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani told reporters on Sunday during a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Doha.
He acknowledged “some progress” after Hamas representatives met with mediators in Cairo, but said efforts to push for a renewed ceasefire would continue.
At the same time, Mossad Director David Barnea traveled to Qatar on Thursday amid renewed attempts to secure the release of the remaining 59 Israeli captives, who have been held in Gaza for nearly 570 days.
According to Israel Hayom, sources familiar with the talks said Doha backed Hamas’s rejection of the latest U.S. proposal.
The Israel Defense Forces reportedly plans to increase military pressure in Gaza if negotiations stall. Israeli officials, however, are holding off for now to give the talks a chance.
Qatar is said to be pressuring Hamas to reject the latest deal, suggesting that by holding out, the group could secure a more favorable agreement—possibly including a multi-year truce with international guarantees, Gaza’s rehabilitation and the preservation of Hamas’s rule. Israel’s stated war goals include the complete dismantling of Hamas’s military and governmental infrastructure.