The families of several hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza expressed little enthusiasm for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to lawmakers, saying they met with him this week and did not receive any encouraging news.
Netanyahu, who is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday afternoon, met with Israeli families of hostages at his hotel earlier this week and told them he was trying to balance the goals of evacuating the hostages while time to protect the citizens of Israel, according to Jon Polin, father of Hamas hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Regarding a potential ceasefire and hostage release agreement, Netanyahu “said the agreement is getting closer, but we are not there yet,” according to Polin.
“We came back and suggested that, at this moment, it should not be one or the other, but that protecting the citizens of Israel, through the accounts of the Minister of Defense, the head of the armed forces, the head of the Mossad [and] the head of the Shin Bet, is at a point where everyone feels we have achieved what we needed,” he said at a press conference. “Now, militarily, they feel they can live with the price of any deal.”
Other family members of hostages said they left with the understanding that a deal would not be signed now and that anything the Israeli prime minister said in his speech before Congress would be meaningless.
Frustration was evident among the families, who held meetings this week and are expected to hold more on Wednesday, demanding that the Israeli government and the Palestinian militant group Hamas seal the deal to establish a ceasefire and release the hostages. Around 116 hostages still remain in Gaza, 44 of whom, according to the Israeli military, are dead.
Yehuda Cohen, father of hostage Nimrod Cohen, said Netanyahu and the Israeli government “were doing nothing to free my son.”
“The government only thinks about its own survival,” he said. “Our government is responsible and our government is abandoning and continues to abandon these hostages, they continue to abandon my son.”
Hamas took around 250 hostages in a surprise invasion of southern Israel on October 7, when Palestinian fighters also killed around 1,200 people. Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians.
A truce has not been reached since November, when dozens of hostages were freed, as Israel seeks the total destruction of Hamas and the Palestinian militant group presses for an end to the war.
President Biden’s latest proposal appears to have brought both sides closer to an agreement, with the US indicating that one of them is close to the finish line. The proposal includes the exchange of the most vulnerable hostages for a temporary ceasefire, a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian and Palestinian prisoners, while a second phase would see a lasting ceasefire while negotiations continue to release the remaining hostages and put end to the war.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday that a “deal is in sight.”
“We think it is possible, it doesn’t mean we will get there, but we have made progress in negotiations,” he told reporters.
But for families, they continue to receive signals that a deal is closed without a finalized agreement, an aggravating process. Families feel time is passing as more hostages are found dead in captivity, including two announced this week, Alex Dancyg, 75, and Yagev Buchshtav, 35.
Polin said he “doesn’t want to hear anymore that we’re getting closer.”
“I don’t want to hear any more beacons. I don’t want to hear any more excuses,” he said. “Our loved ones paid the price. They need to go home now.”
“All we need is a deal. And it’s already on the table right now,” said Michael Levy, brother of hostage Or Levy. “Every week we hear about more hostages being murdered.”
Efrat Moshkoviz, aunt of 20-year-old hostage Naama Levy, said she will attend the speech and still remains optimistic that a deal can be reached, saying she has no choice but to hold out hope. She wants Netanyahu, in his speech, which many Democrats have threatened to boycott, to make a concrete announcement about a ceasefire and a hostage release agreement.
“What we’ve heard so far…has sometimes been vague or even combative,” she said. “What we’re looking for is, ‘We can make this work, we know how to make this work.’”
Rachel Goldberg, mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, said she hopes Biden can seal a deal now that he has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, giving him more time to focus on issues like the war in Gaza.
“I am encouraged and grateful that the president can now focus during the end of his term on returning these beloved hostages home and bringing greater calm to our devastated and complicated region,” she said. “What a glorious and powerful legacy it will be. Good luck.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
