Top of Mind Thursday – October 16, 2025: Home at Last

Home at last.

For 20 Israelis held hostage since the October 7 attack (and their anxious families), Monday was a magical day.

After more than two years in captivity, these men were greeted with celebrations upon their return to Israel. Behind the smiles and the cheering, we learned that many former hostages are seriously ill. Most were held in horrific, unsanitary, demeaning circumstances—in at least one case, a man was chained in a cage by himself for the entire two year period. One hostage still has shrapnel in his eye from the attack two years ago, and may lose the sight in his other eye as well. Another was forced to dig what he was told would be his own grave.

The good news is that as a result of this two-year journey, Israeli doctors have developed a medical specialty in hostage return and rehabilitation. They now know what types of treatments and supports are needed to ensure the best possible recovery for these individuals.

And the bad news is the condition in which these people were returned required the development of a new medical specialty in hostage rehabilitation.

But behind the 20 families rejoicing, there are 28 families who now know definitively that their loved ones will not return alive. They were either murdered on October 7th or died in captivity. Nine of those bodies have been returned for burial. Hamas says they are having trouble “locating” the bodies of the other 19. Israel does not believe this is true, and is sharing intelligence with groups who are actively searching for these remains.

Many people don’t understand why Israel is so adamant that these bodies are returned. Judaism treats the human body as holy, even after death, and requires us to have appropriate burials—even when the remains are not whole or only a fragment of a body is found.

Until this happens, those families will not have complete closure. It’s bad enough that their loved ones were stolen from them. They rightfully want the ability to bury them and mourn them properly.

Only when the remains of all of the remaining hostages have been returned will these people begin to heal. Then, finally, they will all be home at last.

Check out our marketing leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.

Marketing Above the Noise .