Jerusalem, 20 October, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Families of Israelis abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and later murdered in captivity have demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party stop using the phrase “We brought them all back” in their election campaign, arguing that it falsely equates the return of deceased hostages with those who came home alive.

In an open letter sent to Netanyahu on Tuesday, relatives accused the prime minister of turning their loved ones’ deaths into a political achievement and urged him to take responsibility for the failures surrounding the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel.

“Do not use their deaths to ask the public for another term. You did not bring back our loved ones — their bodies returned in coffins. No election campaign can erase this fact,” the letter stated.

“Every time you repeat that sentence, you erase the terrible difference between those who returned to their families alive and those who never had that chance,” the families wrote.

They also called on Netanyahu to establish a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the Oct. 7 attack and its aftermath.

Alongside the letter, relatives of six hostages murdered in the Rafah area of southern Gaza launched a public campaign featuring billboards on the Ayalon Highway near Tel Aviv and elsewhere across Israel. The signs carry the message: “We did not return home!”

Nira Sarousi, the mother of Almog Sarousi, who was abducted from the Nova music festival and murdered in captivity, addressed Netanyahu in a video message.

“You brought them back dead. You should have been proud if you had brought them back alive, because they survived 11 months. They could have been here alive, but they didn’t,” she said.

Michal Lobanov, the wife of Alex Lobanov, who was also abducted from Nova and murdered in captivity, said the billboards were intended to ensure the public remembers the hostages who never returned alive.

“The faces of our six appear on billboards so that everyone will remember them, so that everyone will remember what we missed, and that they did not return to us alive,” she said.

The letter was signed by relatives of numerous hostages, including Noa Marciano, Alon Shamriz and Avraham Munder, among others. Some hostages were murdered by Hamas, while others died under different circumstances in Gaza.