Blinken meets with hostage families, Herzog in Tel Aviv

After US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with hostage families in Tel Aviv, he and President Isaac Herzog deliver brief remarks, noting the opportunity to bring hostage home in the wake of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s death.

“We know that there is a unique opportunity that following the killing of Sinwar and the other circumstances that have evolved,” says Herzog, “there is a unique opportunity to make a special effort to employ all tools necessary and possible to move forward and bring the hostages back home.”

Speaking about Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah, Herzog says “at the end of it all is led and commanded in Tehran. And that is why, of course, a major answer has to be made towards Tehran.”

“I believe very much that the death of Sinwar does create an important opportunity to bring the hostages home, to bring the war to an end, and to ensure Israel’s security,” says Blinken, “and that’s exactly what our conversations today focused on with our Israeli colleagues, including arrangements for the period following the end of the conflict.”