Hostage families express concern IDF’s planned expanded ground op may pose risk to loved ones

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum expresses concern over the announcement that the IDF plans to expand ground operations into Deir al-Balah for the first time.

“Can anyone promise us that this decision will not come at the cost of the loss of our loved ones?” the forum says in a statement.

“We expect the prime minister, the defense minister, and senior IDF officials to urgently explain to Israeli citizens and the families what the plan for the fighting is, and how exactly it protects the hostages who are still in Gaza,” the forum says.

“Unfortunately, despite all the spin and false promises, many families have already learned firsthand the meaning of expanding the fighting in the shadow of negotiations and the absence of a clear war plan. One can only recall the horror of the murder of the six hostages in August last year,” the forum says, referring to Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Or Danino and Alex Lubanov, who were murdered by their captors in a tunnel, apparently as Israeli troops neared.

The forum says that the expansion of ground operations should not be used as a “card” in negotiations for a ceasefire deal, as it poses “a tangible and immediate danger to their fate.”

“Enough! The Israeli people overwhelmingly want an end to the fighting and a comprehensive agreement that will return all the hostages,” the statement concludes.

Polls have consistently shown a large majority of the Israeli public is in favor of a deal to bring home all those held in Gaza, even if it means the end of the war.

This morning for the first time the IDF issued an evacuation warning for the Deir al-Balah area, one of the few locations in the Strip where the military has not operated with ground troops.

The IDF has avoided ground operations in areas where it believes Hamas to be holding hostages in order to not endanger them, as the terror group has vowed to execute captives if troops near.