Hostage
Families
Forever.
255 – The Organization for Families and Hostages was established to provide a home and source of comprehensive and inclusive support for those taken hostage to Gaza (both living and deceased) and their families. A place that knows how to respond to their needs in the name of optimal rehabilitation and renewed, integration into daily life.
Here
to stay
Here to stay
The title, hostage family, will not disappear. It remains an inseparable part of one’s definition of self, family, and public identity.
Experts by
experience
Experts by experience
Survivors of the hostage experience in Gaza and their family members have become experts by experience. They know best how to define what they need and what they want.
One
circle
One circle
There is no separation into circles of proximity. The entire family tree is considered one circle of support and accompaniment.
What do
we do?
A personal package tailored to each family >>
A dedicated and expert social worker is assigned to each family. Together, they build a personalized plan based on the family’s specific needs, pace, and stage of progress, in five areas of life: physical and mental health, family matters, occupational matters, social matters, and economic matters.
Strengthening and developing the community >>
Promoting and preserving the connections formed between families based on the unique experience they have shared, through dedicated and tailored processing and support groups for family members, meetings in various locations across the country, retreats, workshops, initiatives, and other actions.
Narrative and public discourse >>
Identifying and creating opportunities for hostages who returned from Gaza and their families, to tell their stories in their own words, and in the way they choose, in order to take ownership of the manner in which their stories will be told for years to come.
Policy and recognition >>
Accompanying hostages who have returned from Gaza and their families in the public and political arenas. Promoting legislation tailored to this unprecedented reality, strengthening connections with government ministries and providing a clear voice for the families, to ensure their every right is protected and every need receives a genuine systemic response.
Who are we?
Professional team
Mor Peretz
CEO
Mor Peretz, a founder of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, she has accompanied the families since October 7th. A year later, she founded 255 -the Organization for Hostages and their Families to provide long-term accompaniment for the families and hostages who survived captivity.
Prior to this, she served as Chief of Staff to the Director General of the Ministry of Welfare, and managed the fields of strategy and community development at Branco Weiss and the Jerusalem Municipality
Alia Kadish
Individuals and Families Director
Alia Kadish holds a bachelor’s degree in social work. With 13 years’ experience in the field, her specialization is in welfare, focusing on families in situations of crisis, risk, and poverty. Over the years, she has engaged in direct therapy, and management and development of welfare programs. In her most recent past position, she managed the programs for families in circumstances of risk and neglect, at the national headquarters of the Noshmim [breathing] program for such families at the Ministry of Welfare.
Rotem Kavalo
Communities Director
Rotem Kavalo holds two degrees in social work from Tel Hai College with a specialization in community, youth, management, and training. She managed the Community Department in the Golan Regional Council, leading its community strategy and developing the leadership program, “Leading Communities,” alongside training designed to connect people to community and a feeling of meaning
Sahar Edri
Community Projects Coordinator
Sahar Edri holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She led the Youth Section in the Children and Youth Department in Shlomi. In addition, she led programs by the Jewish Agency. She facilitated a group in the framework of a year of service following high school and has extensive experience in project management.
Hodaya Nissim
Operations Coordinator
Hodaya Nissim holds a bachelor’s degree in special education and informal education. She facilitated groups during a service year following high school, promoting local leadership in Israel’s periphery, and served as Programs Coordinator at the mechina at the Ma’aseh Center. After October 7th, she joined the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, where she set up and managed the operations team working under the families’ team, providing daily responses to their needs at headquarters.
Executive Committee
Tal Ohana
Tal Ohana, former Mayor of Yeruham, is currently engaged in local economic development, executive training, and mentoring leaders before and during political tenures. In the past, Tal was a member of the Tenders and Property Tax committees and a director of the Yeruham Economic Development Corporation. In addition, she served as the Deputy and Acting Head of the Yeruham Local Council and held the Education and Strategic Development portfolio.
Dr. Sigal Shelach
Dr. Sigal Shelach is an Israeli public figure. Sigal is the former CEO of JDC Israel (2018–2024). Prior to that, she also served as the CEO of JDC-TEVET. Sigal is a senior researcher at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Employment, and a lecturer in the Department of Labor Studies at Tel Aviv University.
Committee of Experts
Prof. Mario Mikulincer
Mario Mikulincer (born in 1957) is an Israeli professor and researcher in the field of psychology who served as the Dean of the School of Psychology and, between 2014 and 2017, as the Vice President for Academic Affairs of the Interdisciplinary Center [later to become Reichman University]. He is the recipient of the EMET Prize for 2004. Today, Mario is the head of the doctoral program in psychology at Reichman University.
Galit Itzhaki Draizin
Galit is a Jungian psychotherapist and profiler, an expert in ambiguous loss, and developer of the group model for treating bereaved families and orphans. She is the founder of WELL AL – The Israeli Center for Ambiguous Loss, and the entrepreneur behind the Emergency Academic House for Training Therapists at the Mifrasim Institute. She has over two decades of experience in clinical and community work with families of hostages, missing persons, and trauma survivors.
Prof. Merav Roth
Prof. Merav Roth is a clinical psychologist, a training and supervising psychoanalyst at the Israel Psychoanalytic Society, and an interdisciplinary researcher of psychoanalysis and literature. Merav is one of the founders of FLM (First Line Med), which has been accompanying surviving hostages and families of hostages with close therapy from the beginning of the war.
Dr. Sarale Shadmi
Sara, co-founder and CEO of the Varda Center for Community Building, served as the chairperson of KAMA at Oranim College, academic director of Teach First Israel – Hotam, and partner in establishing Shadmot – Center for Leadership in the Community. She is engaged in community-building and social resilience in Israel and around the world, and among other roles, was one of the founders of the Administration for Values-Based Education in the Northern District of the Ministry of Education.
Prof. Michal Krumer-Nevo
Michal is a Professor in the Department of Social Work at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and holds the David and Dorothy Schwartzman Chair in Community Development. She also serves as the Honorary President of the Israeli Center for Qualitative Research of People and Society at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She is the developer of the work theory of poverty-conscious social work.
Mor Peretz
CEO
Mor Peretz, a founder of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, she has accompanied the families since October 7th. A year later, she founded 255 -the Organization for Hostages and their Families to provide long-term accompaniment for the families and hostages who survived captivity.
Prior to this, she served as Chief of Staff to the Director General of the Ministry of Welfare, and managed the fields of strategy and community development at Branco Weiss and the Jerusalem Municipality
Alia Kadish
Individuals and Families Director
Alia Kadish holds a bachelor’s degree in social work. With 13 years’ experience in the field, her specialization is in welfare, focusing on families in situations of crisis, risk, and poverty. Over the years, she has engaged in direct therapy, and management and development of welfare programs. In her most recent past position, she managed the programs for families in circumstances of risk and neglect, at the national headquarters of the Noshmim [breathing] program for such families at the Ministry of Welfare.
Rotem Kavalo
Communities Director
Rotem Kavalo holds two degrees in social work from Tel Hai College with a specialization in community, youth, management, and training. She managed the Community Department in the Golan Regional Council, leading its community strategy and developing the leadership program, “Leading Communities,” alongside training designed to connect people to community and a feeling of meaning
Sahar Edri
Community Projects Coordinator
Sahar Edri holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She led the Youth Section in the Children and Youth Department in Shlomi. In addition, she led programs by the Jewish Agency. She facilitated a group in the framework of a year of service following high school and has extensive experience in project management.
Hodaya Nissim
Operations Coordinator
Hodaya Nissim holds a bachelor’s degree in special education and informal education. She facilitated groups during a service year following high school, promoting local leadership in Israel’s periphery, and served as Programs Coordinator at the mechina at the Ma’aseh Center. After October 7th, she joined the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, where she set up and managed the operations team working under the families’ team, providing daily responses to their needs at headquarters.
Tal Ohana
Tal Ohana, former Mayor of Yeruham, is currently engaged in local economic development, executive training, and mentoring leaders before and during political tenures. In the past, Tal was a member of the Tenders and Property Tax committees and a director of the Yeruham Economic Development Corporation. In addition, she served as the Deputy and Acting Head of the Yeruham Local Council and held the Education and Strategic Development portfolio.
Dr. Sigal Shelach
Dr. Sigal Shelach is an Israeli public figure. Sigal is the former CEO of JDC Israel (2018–2024). Prior to that, she also served as the CEO of JDC-TEVET. Sigal is a senior researcher at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Employment, and a lecturer in the Department of Labor Studies at Tel Aviv University.
Prof. Mario Mikulincer
Mario Mikulincer (born in 1957) is an Israeli professor and researcher in the field of psychology who served as the Dean of the School of Psychology and, between 2014 and 2017, as the Vice President for Academic Affairs of the Interdisciplinary Center [later to become Reichman University]. He is the recipient of the EMET Prize for 2004. Today, Mario is the head of the doctoral program in psychology at Reichman University.
Galit Itzhaki Draizin
Galit is a Jungian psychotherapist and profiler, an expert in ambiguous loss, and developer of the group model for treating bereaved families and orphans. She is the founder of WELL AL – The Israeli Center for Ambiguous Loss, and the entrepreneur behind the Emergency Academic House for Training Therapists at the Mifrasim Institute. She has over two decades of experience in clinical and community work with families of hostages, missing persons, and trauma survivors.
Prof. Merav Roth
Prof. Merav Roth is a clinical psychologist, a training and supervising psychoanalyst at the Israel Psychoanalytic Society, and an interdisciplinary researcher of psychoanalysis and literature. Merav is one of the founders of FLM (First Line Med), which has been accompanying surviving hostages and families of hostages with close therapy from the beginning of the war.
Dr. Sarale Shadmi
Sara, co-founder and CEO of the Varda Center for Community Building, served as the chairperson of KAMA at Oranim College, academic director of Teach First Israel – Hotam, and partner in establishing Shadmot – Center for Leadership in the Community. She is engaged in community-building and social resilience in Israel and around the world, and among other roles, was one of the founders of the Administration for Values-Based Education in the Northern District of the Ministry of Education.
Prof. Michal Krumer-Nevo
Michal is a Professor in the Department of Social Work at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and holds the David and Dorothy Schwartzman Chair in Community Development. She also serves as the Honorary President of the Israeli Center for Qualitative Research of People and Society at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She is the developer of the work theory of poverty-conscious social work.
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