Group of hostage families: Concepts Ben Gvir and Smotrich have forced upon us have failed

A group of hostage families holds a weekly press conference outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is being held hostage in Gaza, declares, “We defeated Hamas, and because of Israel’s insistence on a few meters of land, Matan will pay with his life,” referring to gaps in talks regarding the IDF’s withdrawal as part of a ceasefire-hostage release deal.

“If the negotiations crumble, with it, my Matan will crumble; he and the other 49 hostages will crumble,” she says, warning that her son, who is suffering from muscular atrophy, is running out of time.

She insists that the military had succeeded in their work, but that further military pressure has not succeeded in bringing home the hostages: “The concepts that [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir and [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich forced on us have failed.”

Smotrich has said Gaza must be “totally destroyed,” while Ben Gvir has threatened to bolt Netanyahu’s coalition if another hostage deal is signed.

Zangauker says that Israel has not proposed any deal that would lead to the release of all hostages and end the war, and that all of Israel’s offers for a hostage deal have led to consistent deadlock in the negotiations.

Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held hostage, says that Netanyahu promised him he would bring all hostages home.

“In practice, he procrastinated on the way to a partial deal, and even that he has failed to bring,” he says, expressing alarm over the torturous conditions his son was experiencing, and urged a “comprehensive agreement” to end the war.