Hostage Forum demands investigation into document leak case

The Families Forum, the main association of relatives of hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip, demanded Monday that all light be shed on the matter of leaked documents which splashes the Israeli Prime Minister and could have harmed a agreement on the release of hostages.

“The families (of hostages) demand an investigation of all those involved in suspected sabotage and harm to state security. Such action in general and particularly during war endangers the hostages, compromises their chances of return and abandons them with the risk of being killed by Hamas terrorists,” the Forum said in a statement. This Forum brings together the majority of the families of the 97 hostages still captive in Gaza.

On Sunday, an Israeli court announced that a former spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been arrested for releasing confidential military documents to the press without authorization, which could have undermined a deal to release the hostages . Four people, including members of the Israeli security apparatus and Eliezer Feldstein, a former collaborator of Mr. Netanyahu, are currently in detention, said the Rishon LeZion court (center). An investigation was opened by the Shin Bet, the domestic intelligence services, and the army after the publication in September of articles in the foreign press based on confidential military documents.

One detailed an alleged plan by Yahya Sinouar, the former political leader of Hamas, to flee the Gaza Strip with the hostages towards Egypt through the “Philadelphia Corridor”, a buffer zone along the border. The other was based on notes presented as coming from the Hamas leadership on its leader’s strategy to thwart negotiations on the release of the hostages. This information, partly false, would have, according to the court, “undermined the ability of the security agencies to achieve the objective of freeing the hostages”, according to the court, which issued a notice of censorship on a large part of the investigation.

The Families Forum, the main association of relatives of hostages held in captivity in the Gaza Strip, demanded Monday that all light be shed on the affair of leaked documents which splashes the Israeli Prime Minister and could have harmed a agreement on the release of hostages.

“The families (of hostages) demand an investigation into…