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Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Hostage families urge Witkoff ‘to pull out every stop’ to ensure Hamas returns all bodies
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The Hostages and Missing Families Forum pens a letter to US special envoy Steve Witkoff, urging him to intervene after Hamas only returned the bodies of four out of the 28 deceased hostages they are holding in Gaza.
The families thank Witkoff for his work on the ceasefire-hostage release deal, but add, “What we feared is now happening before our eyes.”
“Only four deceased hostages are coming home today. Only four families will be able to bring their loved ones to the dignified burial they so deserve and begin to find closure. How is this possible? How can we accept that the others remain behind?” the families say.
“We must ensure that all remaining hostages come home. We cannot rest, and we know you will not rest, until every last hostage is returned,” the letter reads.
“We ask you to pull out every stop and leave no stone unturned in demanding that Hamas fulfill their end of the agreement and bring all the remaining hostages home,” the families write.
“Your assurance that you will not leave anyone behind echoes in our hearts and gives us strength to continue. Your words — that you would dig with your own fingers to find our loved ones left behind — are forever etched in our memory and sustain us through the darkest moments,” the letter says.
The Times of Israel Community.