The families of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip warned in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening that they were “at the end of their patience” and demanded to be received by the government that evening.
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“No more patience, now there is fighting,” said the forum for the families of the hostages and missing people on Thursday evening.
According to the Israeli army, 224 families were contacted to inform them that their relatives were hostages.
“We demand that the Cabinet speak to us this evening and tell us how they plan to bring them back today. We are intensifying the fight, we are no longer waiting to be led, we are leading the fight,” said Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of Romi Gonen.
“For twenty days the government has been silent, we are doing everything ourselves,” lamented Eyal Sheni, the father of Roni Sheni, a 19-year-old soldier who was held hostage or disappeared.
“I ask one thing: stand up, help us and take responsibility,” he added.
Hamas’s military wing “estimated” on Thursday that “nearly 50” Israeli hostages have been killed by Israeli strikes since the war began, figures that cannot be confirmed by AFP.
So far, four women held hostage by Hamas have been released.
In a new and hybrid form, a platform of “thousands of volunteers” bringing together experts from civil society and reservists from the famous intelligence unit 8200 is helping to identify and locate hostages in a joint headquarters.
The families have come together to form a “Forum for the Families of the Hostages and Missing Persons” and are mobilizing their own, including diplomatic, resources.