A organisation advocating on behalf of the families stated on Saturday that since the IDF increased ground attacks within the Palestinian region, the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip have been filled with anxiety for their loved ones.
“This night was the most terrible of all nights … against the backdrop of the major IDF (Israel Defense Forces) operation in the Strip,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
It said that the Palestinian civilians and the captives held by Hamas were both under intense bombardment and that their relatives were filled with “anxiety, frustration” about the possibility that their safety might be further jeopardised by Israel’s eagerly anticipated ground assault.
Bennet Netanyahu, the prime minister, had meetings with several of the families. He stated that freeing the hostages was a “integral” component of the military’s objectives in a video that his office published. The key is pressure. The odds increase with increasing pressure,” he stated.
In a protest outside Israel’s defence headquarters in Tel Aviv, dozens gathered carrying pictures of the captives, chanting “return them now”.
Meirav Leshem Gonen stated that any military operation must take into account the fate of their loved ones who have been detained incommunicado for three weeks. Romi is the daughter who is thought to have been abducted from the Nova music festival site.
“We are scared, we are worried, where are they? What’s happening with them? Who is taking care of them? We heard yesterday about the tanks gong in and we are all concerned,” she said.
She described the meeting with Netanyahu as challenging and stated that the families thought there would be widespread public support for a swap deal that would see all Palestinian prisoners in Israel released in exchange for all the hostages.
Since the horrific attack on October 7 by Hamas, which attacked army outposts and civilian communities in the area and killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, Israel has been bombarding the Gaza Strip, which is under the leadership of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
During its operations, Hamas brought more than 200 hostages—including children—back into Gaza. It has so far only published four, and on Thursday it claimed that another fifty people had died as a result of Israeli bombing.
Palestinian health officials report that over 7,000 Palestinians, including about 3,000 children, have died in the previous three weeks as a result of Israel’s airstrikes and artillery fire, which have destroyed huge areas of Gaza.
Without providing further details, Israel stated on Saturday that it had increased ground operations inside Gaza during the night, while the Strip was experiencing internet and power outages, and that its forces were still engaged in combat there.
More over half of the prisoners seized by Hamas hold foreign passports from 25 different countries, Israel claimed on Wednesday. Numerous people were thought to have held dual Israeli citizenship.
It is thought that the hostages are concealed in the Gaza Strip, perhaps in a maze of tunnels that Hamas has constructed.
(With agency inputs)
Via Firstpost World Latest News https://ift.tt/43Cq9zl
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