Like every Saturday evening, the Forum of Families of Hostages and the Missing will hold its weekly rally in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, while protest groups calling on the government to resign will demonstrate nearby. Earlier on Saturday, families of hostages held by the Hamas terrorist group called on all parties to immediately accept a detailed proposal by US President Joe Biden to end the nearly eight-month war and bring back their loved ones at home.
“We want people to return from Gaza alive and quickly,” Gili Roman told the Associated Press. His sister, Yarden Roman-Gat, was taken hostage and released during a week-long ceasefire in November, but Yarden’s sister-in-law, Carmel, remains detained. “This may be the last chance to save lives. This is why the current situation must be changed and we expect everyone to join Mr. Biden’s call to immediately accept the agreement that is on the table. There is no other way to improve the situation for everyone. Our leaders must not disappoint us. But above all, all eyes must be on Hamas,” he adds. Many families of hostages accuse the government’s lack of will to reach an agreement of being at the origin of the deaths of many hostages in captivity. “We know that the Israeli government did much to delay reaching an agreement, which cost the lives of many people who survived in captivity for weeks and months. by the number of people we are going to receive who are no longer alive,” Sharone Lifshitz told AP. His mother Yocheved was released by Hamas in October, and his father Oded remains in captivity.
Emergency operation
The Forum of Families of Hostages and the Missing said it had launched an “emergency operation” to secure a majority of votes in the government and Knesset in favor of a proposed deal for the return of held hostages by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. “The forum demands that the hostages be returned, some to be recovered, others to be buried, and that they not miss the opportunity offered to them to return home. In the coming hours, the families of those abductees will contact all members of the cabinet, government and Knesset to ask them to immediately approve Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s agreement,” the forum said in a statement.
