A group of families of Israeli hostages said at a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Tuesday that the government should try to reach an agreement to release all 100 prisoners remaining in Gaza, rather than just a few.
The press conference was held amid mounting speculation about an impending hostage and ceasefire agreement. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, summoned To Cairo, Egypt and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also rumored to be traveling to Cairo, before appearing atop Syria's Mount Hermon.
Report by Reuters proposed Prime Minister Netanyahu may also head to Cairo to finalize a hostage deal.
The Times of Israel reported:
A group of former hostages whose loved ones are still being held by terrorists in Gaza hold a press conference in Tel Aviv's Hostage Square, urging them to only sign an agreement with Hamas that first guarantees the release of all 100 remaining prisoners. asked the government.
“Here I am, a woman who has returned from captivity,” Ilana Griszewski, whose boyfriend Matan Zangaukar is a hostage, told the country's leaders. “I know what that hell feels like, and I can’t leave them alone for even a day, continuing with my petty politics as if their lives were just another part of my agenda. No. Let's make a deal now. It's an all-inclusive deal that leaves no one behind.”
…
“A partial agreement will not be a partial victory. It will be a complete moral and ethical defeat and will leave a bleeding wound that eats away at Israeli society from within,” said Meirav, a former hostage. said Tal and his partner Yair Yaakov. Killed in Hamas onslaught on October 7, 2023. Yaakov's body is still being held in Gaza.
Previous hostage deal proposals advanced by the Biden-Harris administration envisaged a gradual process in which a small number of hostages would be released first, followed by more at a later stage, but the U.S. There were no guarantees. A proposal to release all hostages by the end of the deal.
Two events appear to have made a hostage deal more likely. For one, President-elect Donald Trump threatened Hamas with “hell to pay” if all the hostages were not released by Inauguration Day.
The other is the sudden disappearance of a key Hamas ally, with the ceasefire in Lebanon taking Hezbollah out of the war and the collapse of the Syrian regime meaning Iran's main route of arms to the West has also disappeared. It is.
In theory, only the Houthis in Yemen, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, and Iran itself could support Hamas in its fight against Israel — and Israel has access to Iran's air defenses and remaining military assets in Syria. was dismantled.
Hopes continued to rise in Israel throughout the week. On Monday, “ribbons” similar to those worn by supporters of the hostage cause appeared in the sky.
Officials said it was not a political statement and was the result of an Israeli spy plane.
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. He is the author of a recently published e-book. Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 US Presidential Election. his recent book, red novembertells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
