Netanyahu to meet families of dead Gaza hostages; some refuse

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invited relatives of hostages killed in Gaza to a meeting at his home, several families tell AFP.

“I was invited to meet the prime minister,” says Sharon Sharabi, whose brothers Yossi and Eli were kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.

In February, the army told Sharabi that his brother Yossi had been killed and his body was in the hands of Hamas. He says he will accept the invite.

But a family member of a hostage who died in captivity tells AFP on condition of anonymity that she had declined the invitation.

“He remembered a little late to invite us,” she says.

Some of the dead captives’ families have previously accused Netanyahu of a lack of empathy towards them, whereas he rushed to meet hostages released by the army in an operation earlier this month, hailing their return and congratulating security forces.

He will receive some of the mourning families on Thursday and another group on Sunday, the families say.