After meeting PM, mother of slain hostage decries partial release of captives: ‘Again a selection’

Families of hostages held in Gaza are pleading with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ensure that any agreement to end the war must include the freedom of all the hostages.

There are 58 hostages left in Gaza, of whom Israel believes approximately a third are still alive.

Ayelet Samerano, the mother of Jonathan Samerano, whose body is being held in Gaza, was among the family members who met with Netanyahu on Thursday. She says the news that only 10 hostages and several bodies would be released has once again plunged the families into indescribable uncertainty.

“It’s again a selection, you know, all the families, we are right now standing and thinking, is it going to be my son? Isn’t it? What will happen after part of them come, what will be with the rest?”

Israel has accepted a new US proposal for a temporary ceasefire with Hamas, the White House said Thursday, while Hamas has had a cooler response.

“If they (Hamas) want guarantees, we will give them guarantees that after the last hostages will back to Israel, we will stop the war,” Samerano says. “I’m telling you, Netanyahu, say yes. All our countries say yes, the families say yes. All the families, when we are saying, stop the world and give us the hostages back.”