Tel Aviv –
Prime Minister (PM) Israel Benjamin Netanyahu met with the families of the hostages who have been freed and those who are still being held by Hamas. The former hostages and their families took out their frustrations on Netanyahu.
Reported Reuters and Al Arabiya, Wednesday (6/12/2023), the meeting was held on Tuesday (5/12) local time. The meeting was held when fighting broke out again in the Gaza Strip, Palestine.
War broke out again after a ceasefire was held for seven days. During the ceasefire, Hamas released hostages and Israel released Palestinian prisoners in exchange.
Now, there are 138 other people who are thought to still be held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The potential for their release is still open.
“I heard stories that broke my day, I heard about thirst and hunger, about physical and mental violence,” Netanyahu said at a press conference.
“I heard and you heard too, about sexual violence and brutal rape cases that have never happened before,” he continued.
Some relatives of the hostages who attended the meeting were highly critical of the Israeli government. One of them is Dani Miran, whose son Omri has been held hostage by Hamas since October 7 along with 240 other Israelis and foreigners.
Miran said he felt his intelligence was insulted by the encounter. He chose to leave in the middle of the meeting.
“I will not go into detail about what was discussed at the meeting, but the overall performance was poor, insulting, messy,” he told local Israeli television, Channel 13.
Miran accused the Israeli government of making the hostage-taking issue a ‘joke’. He said it was Hamas leaders who returned the hostages, not the government Israel.
“They said ‘we have done this, we have done that’. (Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya) Sinwar was the one who sent our people home, not them (the Israeli government-ed). I was angry because they said that they ordered things. They didn’t order a single step,” he stressed.
The meeting was intended as a forum for the freed hostages to tell Israeli ministers about their experiences while being held hostage by Hamas. Several former hostages reportedly told of the abuse Hamas carried out against them.
But the meeting was overshadowed by the unstoppable emotions of the families of the hostages who have not yet been released. They have great concerns about the fate of their family members who are still detained in the Gaza Strip.
“It was a very volatile meeting, lots of people screaming,” said Jennifer Master, whose partner Andrey was a Hamas hostage.
Israel says a number of women and children are still being held hostage by Hamas. Families whose adult male relatives are still detained in the Gaza Strip are also calling for their relatives not to be forgotten.
“We are all trying to make sure our loved ones can go home. Some want the women who are still left behind or the children who are still left behind, and there are also those who say we want the men to be released,” Master said while speaking to local television. Channel 12.
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2023-12-07 02:49:19
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