Hostages’ families roiled as cabinet meeting on Gaza delayed so government can vote on firing Bar

Relatives of hostages still held in Gaza say they are “fuming” over reports that the government has delayed a planned meeting on the Gaza war in order to discuss the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

In a harshly worded statement issued by the Hostage Families Forum, the relatives accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet of ignoring them and endangering their loved ones.

According to the families, the security cabinet was supposed to convene Thursday evening “to discuss the fate of [the hostages] who are currently at risk of death and disappearance in Hamas’s Gaza tunnels.”

“The families demanded at the start of the week, and throughout all the past months, an urgent meeting with the prime minister and cabinet,” the statement reads. “Not a peep and not an answer.”

Netanyahu’s office announced Thursday that it would hold a vote on firing Bar at 9:30 p.m., defying the attorney general, who says such a move contravenes protocol.

According to Hebrew media report, the meeting on Gaza initially slated for tonight will be pushed off until next week.