Hostages Forum urges Netanyahu to convene security cabinet ASAP to push 2nd stage of Gaza deal

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convene the security cabinet immediately to push forward talks on the second phase of the ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas, after reports that the meeting will only take place on Monday.

“How, after the shocking photos of Eli, Ohad and Or this morning, is the cabinet not meeting immediately? What more proof do the decision-makers need to understand the urgency of returning the 76 hostages?” the Hostages Forum says in a statement.

Three hostages released by Hamas this morning after 491 days in captivity — Eli Sharabi, 52, Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56, — all appeared extremely thin and frail. While they were able to walk, they seemed to be unsteady on their feet as they were paraded by terrorists across a stage before being handed to the Red Cross.

The Hostages Forum statement comes a short while after an Israeli official said that the delegation Netanyahu dispatched to Doha today would only be discussing technical matters of the Gaza deal with negotiators, rather than advancing its second phase.

“Prime minister, send a negotiating team to Qatar with a clear and complete mandate — to complete the agreement urgently, until the last hostage, in a manner and on a date agreed upon in advance,” the families urge.

Meanwhile, protesters are gathering at multiple locations around the country, calling for the government to secure the release of the remaining 73 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 who remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.