SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Israel approved a plan this week to expand the war in Gaza and take full control of Gaza City. Fifty hostages, of whom around 20 are believed to be alive, remain in Gaza. Hamas released footage of two hostages this week. The two men look emaciated, and the videos angered hostage families. Moshe Lavi understands that despair. His brother-in-law Omri Miran is still being held by Hamas after he was kidnapped during the October 7 attacks. Moshe Lavi joins us now. Thank you so much for being with us.
MOSHE LAVI: Of course. Thank you for having me.
SIMON: Hamas posted a video of your brother-in-law in captivity back in April. What was your reaction to seeing these hostage videos this week?
LAVI: What we saw was beyond our worst nightmares of the - of Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski. Their image looked as if we were looking at the Jews who were released from the concentration camps in the Holocaust. And it was so difficult and traumatic for the hostage families to endure it because then we imagine our own loved ones looking the same, suffering the same. We've been trying to push aside those images and focus on the fact that this should raise an alarm to our government that it needs to do more and act faster.
SIMON: What's your reaction to the decision of the Israeli government to expand the war into Gaza and occupy Gaza City?
LAVI: I think this is the wrong decision. They were elected by the public to govern. But at the same time, the very same public has been signaling that overwhelmingly support a hostage deal that will bring about the release of all the hostages, even if the price means ending the war when not all the goals have been achieved.
SIMON: Mr. Lavi, I don't have to tell you there has been mounting international criticism of Israel, even condemnation over the hunger crisis in Gaza. Gaza's health ministry says that hundreds of Palestinians have been killed simply searching for food aid. I wonder how you react to those reports.
LAVI: I will stress first and foremost, that, like many others, I feel empathy for noncombatants in Gaza. I personally think that we need to do everything possible to ensure that aid reaches noncombatants in Gaza. But I also understand the difficulties in doing that, given Hamas has been looting aid over the past 22 months. But at the same time, I'm not going to deny the fact that we need to do better in order to ensure Gazans are receiving everything they need irrespective of the fighting.
SIMON: I do need to add that aid groups who work on food distribution have told NPR they haven't seen what they would call systematic theft of food meant for civilians, and they blame the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Mr. Lavi, how would you have the government of Israel reach an agreement on the hostages? What would you have them give up or agree to do?
LAVI: I will say it's a complex negotiations. What I do want to see for my government is a clear plan for the negotiations, stating we will end the war if all the hostages will return and if Gaza will be demilitarized and see what Hamas says.
SIMON: Mr. Lavi, have you learned anything new about your brother-in-law, Omri Miran, in the month since April when you saw that disturbing video?
LAVI: We haven't learned anything new, besides knowing that he's still alive, that we can still bring him home to my nieces, Roni and Alma. Roni just celebrated her fourth birthday - a second without her father. Alma is 2 years old. Never celebrated a birthday with her father. He was kidnapped when she was 6 months old. I want to see him back with Lishay, my sister, with his father, Danny, and his siblings. And we can still do it, and we can still see that happy ending, if we can say happy. We just keep acting, advocating with public officials and with the wider public, even though it's been exhausting and dispiriting at times. But we have to keep going and manifest that moment where Omri will be home again with Lishay and the girls.
SIMON: Moshe Lavi. He is the brother-in-law of Omri Miran, who was taken captive by Hamas during the October 7 attacks. Mr. Lavi, thanks so much for being with us.
LAVI: Thank you.
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