From the Liveblog of
Monday, September 15, 2025
Visiting Rubio meets with families of hostages still held in Gaza
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with a number of family members of hostages still being held in Gaza,
The meeting was attended by both members of the mainstream Hostages Families Forum as well as by representatives from the right-wing Tikvah Forum.
The Hostages Forum says that during the meeting, the families “emphasized to Secretary Rubio that the expansion of fighting endangers the lives of the hostages who remain alive and risks the disappearance of those who have already been killed.”
Those at the meeting say that they “urged the Trump administration to act swiftly to resume negotiations, stressing that time is running out for the hostages.”
Tzika Mor, the father of hostage Eitan Mor, and a member of the Tikvah Forum, asserts after the meeting that he heard from Rubio the viewpoints voiced by the Tikvah Forum families since the start — that the State of Israel “can’t accept the edicts of Hamas.”
He adds that the Israeli government knows that without heavy pressure on Hamas, the terror organization will never return all of the hostages.
Mor says that “all of the hostages who have returned until now were released only because of pressure placed on Hamas.”
In order for Hamas to return the remaining hostages, says Mor, “it needs to receive the kind of pressure that will not only bring Hamas to the negotiating table, but the kind of pressure to make Hamas understand that it will be destroyed.”
A source associated with the Hostages Families Forum, however, asserts that Mor is trying to sabotage negotiations, after Rubio stressed to the families that conditions are fragile and that he will continue from Israel to other locations to see how to restart the negotiations on Trump’s proposal.
The Times of Israel Community.