Released hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen posted a video of himself with his family, singing the Benaia Barabi song "Keren Shemesh" (Ray of Sunshine). "I am not a singer, I am a father who sings, music has accompanied me throughout my life and especially throughout the period when I was in captivity," he said before he began. "I would sing to myself all day, every night I would sing to my daughters and talk to them about the meanings of the words of special songs". "In the morning I would get up, go to the corner of the room and play love songs in my head, quiet, beloved songs, even adding some gestures. After I decided that writing poems was better than a farewell letter, I created poems that only two weeks ago I could not write on paper or sing aloud. The song 'Sunshine' is a song that my daughters always loved, they would sing it in the car, sing it in the living room on Fridays, here too, and now after so many lonely Fridays I sing it with them." He explained why he had clung to this song and said that "the song is first and foremost a love song. My wife has been my sunshine for almost 21 years. My daughters joined her and made that light brighter. I did everything to hold onto them. Every day I felt how I loved them more and more and more. The song is also a song of hope, the sunbeam dispelling the darkness, showing us the horizon, the light, the life." Related articles: 'I'd like to get as many hostages as we can' Qatar comments on affair, makes no mention of PM's staff Hamas will not respond to Israel’s ceasefire counter-proposal Senior Hamas official: We are ready to release Israeli hostages "I was taken from the sun for 498 days, but I chose not to give up, I spoke to the sun every day. Thanks to my wife, my friends, and the entire people of Israel, I am here today. I ask anyone who hears me - do not lose hope, believe me that it penetrates the bowels of the earth." He finished with a message for those still in captivity, "To my fellow hostages, who do not see the light of day there in captivity, be strong. Your soul needs a strong body, your body needs a strong soul. Wipe away your tears, go to the corner of the room, and sing with me."
