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‘Our last chance’: Hostages’ families hope for deal as talks renewed

‘We’ve been through this a lot with a deal on the table, which in the end didn’t materialize.’

By JNS

As thousands converged on Tel Aviv’s “Hostage Square” for the weekly rally on Saturday night, a sense of cautious optimism filled the air following an apparent breakthrough in the indirect hostage-negotiations between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group.

“We’ve been through this a lot with a deal on the table, which in the end didn’t materialize. We want to believe that this time will be different but we must remain realistic even as we do everything to close it,” Eyal Kalderon told JNS on Sunday.

On Oct. 7, Kalderon’s cousin Ofer was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his son, Erez, then aged 11, now 12, and daughter, Sahar, 16. The children were among the 105 captives freed in November as part of a ceasefire-for-terrorists agreement.

Mediators are working to revive President Joe Biden’s phased proposal presented in May, which calls for an initial “full and complete” six-week ceasefire during which dozens of Israeli hostages would be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli prisons.

Mossad Director David Barnea traveled to Doha over the weekend to jump-start negotiations. Upon his return, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that a negotiating team would be dispatched this week to continue the talks.