"Every day, I suffer knowing that my father’s body is inGaza, but the living hostages are enduring torment every second," she said o Sunday. "So, I put my own suffering aside — they must come home first."
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בר גודארד, בתו של מני גודארד, בעצרת מחאה בכיכר החטופיםבר גודארד, בתו של מני גודארד, בעצרת מחאה בכיכר החטופים
Bar Godard speaking at a rally for the release of the hostages
"Until that moment, we had no idea what had happened to my father's body. We didn't know if it had been buried, left in a refugee camp, or kept in cold storage. This discovery shook me — to know that my father was there, inside a refrigerator at an Islamic Jihad post."
She added: "In the end, we received DNA samples measuring only two centimeters. It's significant, but it's not enough to bring him to burial. We wouldn't be able to go through such a funeral, only to relive the pain once his body is eventually returned. It's agonizing."
Bar is not alone among the families of dead hostages in expressing urgency to return the living hostages while also ensuring the return of all remains. During a rally in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Saturday night, she made a public plea not to risk soldiers' lives in recovering her father’s body, insisting it should only be done through a negotiated deal.
"If there’s one thing I know for certain, it's that my father would never want anyone to be harmed to retrieve his body," she told Ynet. "He valued life above all else. He was the most noble and kind-hearted person, someone who couldn’t bear to see others in pain. I wouldn’t be able to live with more loss."
Boaz Zalmanovich, whose father, Aryeh, was murdered and abducted from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, echoed Bar’s sentiments.
"Israel must bring back my father and the other fallen—no matter what. Not for me or the Zalmanovich family, but so that every citizen in this country knows that if something happens to them the state will bring them home," he said. "This must be done for the future. Personally, we also don’t want soldiers' lives put at risk for my father’s body. First, we must bring back the living before we are left with only the dead to return."
Bar also criticized Israel’s handling of negotiations. "Our government refuses to pursue comprehensive deals, preferring partial agreements and ‘phased’ exchanges. But that’s not fate—it’s a choice," she said. "If Prime Minister Netanyahu wanted to, all the hostages would be home by now. There is one right course of action, no matter the cost—even if it means ending the war—and that is to bring everyone back. That is what my father would have wanted, for everyone."
Boaz added: "We have no idea when the fallen will be returned—no one talks to us. Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer has been put in charge, and we only learn about the negotiations through the media. We have a liaison officer who updates us with official messages from the Hostages and Missing Persons Directorate, but has Gal Hirsch, the official responsible for hostages and missing persons, or any senior official contacted me recently? Called me in for a meeting? Explained the situation? Absolutely not. So we are left trying to piece together the situation from media reports, and above all, we urge the government to stop obstructing the deals. They need to bring them home."