The long, lonely fight of an Israeli hostage's sister, who fears time is running out

TEL AVIV, Israel — On a Saturday night in February, in a rally at a plaza now known as Hostage Square, families line up, preparing to take the stage one by one, holding placards bearing pictures of their loved ones and wearing shirts with a message that's been plastered all over this city since October: "Bring them home now."

These are the families of the 134 people still being held hostage in Gaza. Some are now known to be dead. All were captured in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed.

Carmit Palty Katzir's family was shattered that day, when Hamas-led militants attacked her childhood home of Nir Oz, near the Gaza border. They killed her father Rami, 79, and took her mother Hana, 77, and her older brother Elad, 47, into Gaza as hostages. She and her sister Avital, 51, were spared, having chosen not to spend that holiday weekend with their parents in their childhood home.

Since then, like many other relatives of people currently held hostage by Hamas, Katzir has been fighting for her brother's life. She says she has had no opportunity to grieve the loss of her father, minimal support from the government, and she fears time is