Ohad Ben Ami, an Israeli who was freed from captivity in Gaza on February 8, has issued a video statement, urging supporters to continue demonstrations until all remaining captives are released, Al Jazeera reports.

In the video, aired at a protest in Tel Aviv, Ben Ami said that he and others held in Gaza were told by their captors that the Israeli government had abandoned them.

But he said he found hope when he learned that hundreds of thousands of people had joined protests calling for the captives to be brought home.

“What keeps you above ground is when you suddenly see that the people, your people, are fighting for you… You have no idea, no idea how much power that gives to those left behind,” he said in the prerecorded message.

Ben Ami warned that time was running out for the 73 captives still in Gaza.

“You see how people slowly change and how time takes its toll, and even people who had hope and faith suddenly start to lose that, and you constantly need to lift them,” he said.