Group of hostage families: Netanyahu sending troops to die in war that will kill hostages

In their weekly press conference, a group of hostage families decry Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for continuing to send soldiers to war in Gaza, expressing fear that the imminent expansion of the operation in the Strip will kill the remaining living captives.

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held hostage in Gaza, expresses concern over the expected call-up of reservists for a wider offensive in the Strip, which will risk the lives of the hostages for a “pointless war, a war [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] refuses to end.”

“Netanyahu already said that the return of the hostages is a secondary goal. The life of my son is secondary to him. Everything is secondary to keeping his coalition,” she says.

Yotam Cohen, whose brother Nimrod is held hostage in Gaza, says, “Instead of returning Nimrod home with an agreement, Netanyahu is sending soldiers to die in a war that will kill him.”

Cohen says that the war is killing the hostages and that there is a duty to oppose it.

Yael Or, whose cousin Dror was murdered during the October 7, 2023, massacre and his body taken by terrorists to Gaza, says it cannot be that living hostages meet his fate.

“But instead of returning Dror and everyone in an agreement and ending the war, Netanyahu decided to turn him and the rest of the hostages into Ron Arads,” she says, referencing an air force navigator who disappeared in 1986 and was never located but presumed dead.