The Tikva Forum of hostage families on Sunday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end months-long negotiations aimed at achieving an elusive ceasefire deal with Hamas.
The call came after Israeli forces recovered overnight Saturday the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in Rafah in southern Gaza. They were identified as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Almog Sarusi, 25, Alexander Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Ori Danino, 25.
According to the IDF spokesperson, they were murdered by their captors as Israeli forces approached.
The forum said the captives’ murder was further evidence of “the bitter enemy we are fighting.”
Hamas “are murderers and rapists of the lowest kind. Human animals. In these difficult moments we support the heroic IDF soldiers who give their lives to rescue the hostages,” added the forum.
The group, an alternative to the larger Hostages and Missing Families Forum, is opposed to the idea of a ceasefire deal at any cost, and believes that only military pressure will lead to their loved ones’ release.
Earlier, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum blamed the six murders on Netanyahu.
“If it weren’t for the saboteurs, the excuses and the spin, the hostages whose deaths we learned of this morning would probably be alive,” the forum tweeted.
“Netanyahu: enough of the excuses. Enough of the spin. Enough of the abandonment. The time has come to bring our hostages home—those living for rehabilitation and the fallen and murdered for burial in their land,” it added.
In July, hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem to demand that the government keep up the military pressure on Hamas. The protest came a day after Israel carried out a strike in southern Gaza targeting Hamas terror mastermind Mohammed Deif.
“Deif is responsible for the murder of dozens of Israelis. We are showing Hamas that we are still fighting and we will continue to fight until they surrender,” Tzvika Mor, co-founder of the Tikva Forum, told JNS at the time.
The latest round of hostage negotiations ended without results as the Israeli delegation led by Mossad chief David Barnea returned home from Cairo last Sunday.
Despite the lack of progress, Washington responded optimistically, calling the talks “constructive.” U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the Biden Administration was working “feverishly” to reach a deal.
Off-and-on negotiations have continued for months with the United States, Egypt and Qatar acting as mediators.
One hundred and one hostages—alive and dead—remain in Hamas captivity in Gaza.
