Nearly a year after the barbaric and sadistic assault by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, families of the hostages with ties to the United Kingdom or British citizenship said Monday they feared that he escalation in Lebanon is not distracting the world’s attention from the fate of their loved ones held in Gaza.
At a news conference in London, Sharone Lifschitz, whose parents were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in Israel, warned of a ground incursion into Lebanon, arguing it would “distract” attention from the 97 hostages still in the hands of the Palestinian terrorist group.
Lifschitz told a news conference in London: “This takes us away from the hostages. »
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“If there is a land incursion, they tell us nothing will happen for two weeks, three weeks or five weeks,” she continued.
His mother Yocheved was released, but his father Oded, 84, remains in captivity.
Same opinion for Stephen Brisley, whose sister Lianne Sharabi, and his two nieces were killed by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on October 7, while his brother-in-law, Eli Sharabi, was held hostage.
According to him, Israeli strikes against the Lebanese Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon “distract attention from what is most important, namely the release of the hostages.”
He says the Israeli government insists the hostages are its top priority, but “that’s not the impression I have at the moment.”
Highlighting the “abject failure of international diplomacy” in reaching a deal for the return of the hostages, Brisley said he felt the hostages had been “forgotten.”
He calls on the British government to find an “innovative” approach to the crisis.
During their meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy earlier on Monday, family members insisted that the government prioritize the return of their loved ones.
“I hold the Prime Minister responsible for the lives of these hostages,” Lifschitz said.
The families also said they had received a message from King Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla, in which they said they “continue to keep all the hostage families in our thoughts.”
The war in Gaza erupted when some 6,000 Gazans including 3,800 terrorists led by Hamas stormed southern Israel on October 7, killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, kidnapped 251 hostages of all ages , and committed numerous atrocities and using sexual violence as a weapon on a large scale.
In response to this pogrom, the deadliest in the country’s history and the worst against Jews since the Holocaust, Israel, which has sworn to annihilate the Palestinian terrorist group and free the hostages, launched a sustained air operation of a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip, which began on October 27.
An estimated 97 of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 are still in Gaza, including the bodies of 33 hostages whose deaths were confirmed by the Israeli military.
The Palestinian terrorist group also holds two Israeli civilians who entered the Gaza Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
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