Two relatives whose loved ones are believed to have been kidnapped by Hamas said they cannot move forward until all the hostages are freed, and one said he is open to a ceasefire if it means bringing them home.
“I’m calling on the government to reach any agreement now… to bring the hostages back,” Daniel Lifshitz, 35, told the Post.
“It is something very, very important. Call a ceasefire to do that? Safely.”
Lifshitz’s grandparents, Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, and Oded Lifshitz, 83, were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and their home was decimated in the Hamas sneak attack on October 7.
Yocheved was one of four hostages who were freed last month, while Oded is still believed to be held by the terrorist group.
“He is the greatest peace activist in the world,” Lifshitz said of his grandfather, who helped found Kibbutz Nir Oz with his wife in 1955.
The grieving family member of two Israelis currently believed to be held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip says they cannot move forward until all the hostages are freed. Courtesy of Daniel Lifshitz
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“The world mission today is to free those hostages,[Eventually] We can talk about the future. But now we can’t while those hostages are there. [in Gaza]Lifshitz lamented.
Nir Shani, 47, agreed that the Israeli government has failed the hostages’ families.
Their son, Amit, 16, was kidnapped by Hamas in front of his mother and younger sisters at Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.
Nir Shani, 47, agreed that the Israeli government has failed the hostages’ families when her son, Amit, 16, was kidnapped by Hamas in front of his mother and younger sisters at Kibbutz Be ‘eri on October 7. Courtesy of Nir Shani
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War between Israel and Hamas: how we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip more than three decades after seizing the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: The terrorist group Hamas wins the Palestinian legislative elections.
2007: Hamas takes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches a military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fire rockets at the city of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches the biggest attack on Israel in 50 years, in an early morning ambush on October 7, firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of militants into Israeli cities.
The terrorists killed more than 1,200 Israelis, wounded more than 4,200, and took at least 200 hostage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to announce: “We are at war” and promised that Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 wounded since the war began.
“We need all the help we can get, the government has its own priorities and I’m not sure getting the hostages is number one,” he said.
“I think they want to beat Hamas and make it clear that, in my opinion, that had to be done before October 7, and now it could be done later, after the hostage situation is resolved.”
Shani’s house on Kibbutz Be’eri was burned and will probably take a year to rebuild, he explained.
Still, he admitted he’s not sure he wants to return there.
“I would need to know it’s a safe place,” he said.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn