Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met households of captives free of Gaza in an encounter described as tense by the Israeli media.
Tuesday’s assembly got here amid intensified preventing within the besieged Gaza Strip following the tip of a seven-day pause in hostilities that enabled the return of greater than 100 captives, who had been taken by the Palestinian armed group Hamas throughout its October 7 assault on Israel, in alternate for some 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Israel mentioned on Tuesday that some 138 captives remained within the territory.
A number of of the family who attended the assembly left bitterly essential of the federal government.
Dani Miran, whose son Omri was amongst these taken captive, mentioned he was so disgusted he had walked out in the midst of the assembly.
“I won’t go into the details of what was discussed but this entire performance was ugly, insulting, messy,” he instructed Israel’s Channel 13, saying the federal government had made a “farce” out of the difficulty.
“They say, ‘We’ve done this, we’ve done that’. [Hamas’ Gaza leader Yahya] Sinwar is the one who returned our people, not them. It angers me that they say that they dictated things. They hadn’t dictated a single move.”
Israel says a number of girls and kids stay in Hamas’s arms, whereas households with grownup male family in captivity have been calling for them to not be forgotten.
“It was a very turbulent meeting, many people yelling,” mentioned Jennifer Grasp, whose companion Andrey continues to be being held by Hamas.
“We are all trying to make sure our loved ones get home. There are those who want the women who are left or the children who are left, and those who say we want the men,” Grasp instructed Israel’s Channel 12.
Members of the family known as for quick motion to safe the discharge of the remaining captives.
“I asked Netanyahu if the primary objective of the war was to bring back the hostages,” Meirav Leshem Gonen, mom of 23-year-old hostage Romi Gonen, instructed Israeli tv after the assembly.
“He answered me directly: ‘Yes’,” she mentioned. “I am happy with his answer, but only reality counts.”
Leshem Gonen mentioned she was involved that captives had been being “severely mistreated — women, young girls, and men too”.
Talking at a information convention afterwards, Netanyahu mentioned he had heard tales that “broke my heart” and included thirst and starvation, in addition to bodily and psychological abuse.
“I heard and you also heard, about sexual assault and cases of brutal rape unlike anything,” he added.
Israel has mentioned it’s investigating a number of circumstances of alleged sexual assault and rape dedicated by Hamas fighters throughout their October 7 assault, through which 1,200 folks had been killed.
Witnesses and medical consultants have mentioned some fighters dedicated rape and different assaults earlier than killing the victims, though the extent of the sexual violence stays unknown. Hamas has denied finishing up such assaults.
Israel started an intense bombardment of Gaza within the wake of Hamas’s assault, saying it needed to destroy the group and free the captives. The assaults have killed greater than 16,200 folks in Gaza, in keeping with Hamas, which has managed the territory since 2006.
Some households, in the meantime, seemed to be shedding persistence with Netanyahu’s authorities.
“We have faith in our children, that they are strong and they will overcome this, and we want our government and the military to do what they do as fast as they can — as fast as possible — to start the negotiations,” mentioned Idit Ohel, the mom of 21-year-old hostage Alon, throughout a web-based panel organised by the Hostages and Lacking Households Discussion board.
“Sixty days is too much,” she mentioned, her voice rising. “I don’t want 61 days, I don’t want 65 days. I want them back now.”
Israel withdrew its negotiators from Qatar on December 2, blaming an “impasse” after failing to make progress in talks geared toward securing a renewed pause in hostilities.
Afterwards, Hamas mentioned it might not launch any extra captives till the warfare in Gaza was ended.
