Hostage Families tell Israeli delegation not to return without a deal

Hamas claimed that a guard murdered an Israeli male hostage and wounded two female hostages after he was motivated by revenge against Israel.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Following the announcement on Thursday that hostage negotiations in Doha showed a “promising start,” hostage family members and supporters demanded an immediate release deal with some warning negotiators not to return to Israel without an agreement.

Protesters engaged in a “Last Chance March” in Tel Aviv on Thursday and blamed Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government for the lack of agreement so far.

However, all parties sent delegations to Doha on Thursday except for Hamas, which, under the leadership of Yahya Sinwar, claimed they didn’t trust Israel to refrain from making new demands.

“To the negotiating team — if a deal is not signed today or in the coming days at this summit, do not return to Israel. You have no reason to return to Israel without a deal,” said Yotam Cohen, whose brother Nimrod Cohen is a hostage in Gaza.

The push for the release of the over 100 hostages remaining in Gaza intensified after Hamas claimed that a guard murdered an Israeli male hostage and wounded two female hostages after he was motivated by revenge for Israeli airstrikes.

Although the IDF has neither confirmed nor denied the stated cause of death, the hostage was identified as Ofir Tzarfati, whose body was recovered by the IDF and returned in November.

Some hostage families accuse Netanyahu of prolonging the war for political gain and criticize government ministers who prefer a policy of military victory as a means of releasing hostages over ceasefire negotiations.

In Tel Aviv, Danny Elgarat, whose brother Itzik Elgarat was kidnapped from Nir Oz said, “We hear of far-right ministers threatening and sabotaging chances to reach a deal. They prefer territory over lives, and don’t understand that the hostages are a testament to the largest ever security, social, moral and religious failure in  Israel’s history,” he said.

It is believed that 111 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF.

In late November 2023, 105 civilians were released during a week-long truce, four were freed before that, the IDF has rescued seven and the bodies of 24 hostages have been recovered, including 3 mistakenly killed by Israeli soldiers.