‘Stop the fight and start negotiations,’ Israel hostage families say

Relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 attack lift portraits as they deliver a statement to the media in Tel Aviv on Dec. 16, 2023. (AFP)

• “We only receive dead bodies. We want you to stop the fight and start negotiations,” Noam Perry, daughter of hostage Haim Perry said

TEL AVIV: The families of hostages held in Gaza called on Israel Saturday to stop fighting and make a deal to secure their release after the army admitted “mistakenly” killing three captives in the Palestinian territory.
The Israeli army has said the three hostages killed by troops on Friday were carrying a white flag and had cried for help in Hebrew.
The news of their killing has sparked protests in Israel, and the relatives of the remaining hostages are terrified their loved ones could be next.
“We only receive dead bodies. We want you to stop the fight and start negotiations,” Noam Perry, daughter of hostage Haim Perry, said at an event in Tel Aviv organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“We feel like we’re in a Russian roulette game (finding out) who will be next in line to be told the death of their loved one,” said Ruby Chen, father of 19-year-old soldier Itai, who is among the captives.
“They explained to us first that the ground operation would bring back the abductees,” he said.
“It doesn’t work. Because since then, abductees have been seen returning, but not so much alive. It’s time to change this assumption,” he said.
Around 250 people were taken hostage during Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel, which killed around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Vowing to destroy Hamas and bring back the hostages, Israel launched a massive offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement that has left much of the Gaza Strip in ruins.
The territory’s Hamas government says the war has killed at least 18,800 people, mostly women and children.