Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Hostage’s father: Netanyahu associate told us ‘conditions have ripened’ for deal
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) with Israel's Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, at the president's guest house, in Washington, DC, February 14, 2017. (Avi Ohayon/ GPO/ File)
Eli Albag, the father of Liri Albag, one of five surveillance soldiers kidnapped by terrorists from the Nahal Oz base on October 7, says a top government official has told him a hostage deal may be imminent.
Albag tells Army Radio that he and other relatives of abductees have recently met Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“He told us that conditions have ripened for a deal that can be implemented,” he says.
“When he speaks, it’s [as if] the prime minister is speaking. I believe him.”
