After six Israeli hostages were found dead recently in Gaza, shocking the country, the families of the remaining captives hoped that the tragedy might pressure Israel to accept a cease-fire agreement to secure their release.
But now, as Israeli fighter jets swoop over Lebanon and Hezbollah fires rockets into northern Israel, the conversation in Israel has shifted toward a potential war in the north. Few believe that an agreement to free their loved ones in Gaza is imminent.
After nearly a year, roughly 100 of the more than 250 hostages held hostage by Hamas since their Oct. 7 attacks remain in the clutches of Palestinian militants in Gaza. They include women and older people kidnapped from their homes, as well as soldiers abducted from military bases.
Israel and Hamas are deadlocked in negotiations over conditions for a truce that would free them. The Israeli authorities have declared that more than 30 hostages are already presumed dead, and their families fear that number will only rise as their loved ones languish in captivity.
With all eyes on Israel’s escalating battle with Hezbollah in Lebanon, many families now fear any hopes to save the hostages are rapidly vanishing, said Itzik Horn, whose sons Eitan, 38, and Iair, 46, are still held.
“We’ve been abandoned again and again” by the Israeli government, said Mr. Horn. “And now, the resources and attention are heading to the north.”
Both Eitan and Iair were abducted from Nir Oz, a border village that was devastated by the Hamas-led attack. Many of its roughly 400 members were either killed or kidnapped by Palestinian militants.
Eitan was visiting his brother, who held various roles in Nir Oz, including running the local pub, when the attack began. Soon afterward, Itzik, their father, lost contact with them. In November, a weeklong truce with Hamas secured the release of 105 hostages, some of whom attested to having seen the two brothers in the tunnels, said Mr. Horn.
Noam Dan, a relative of Ofer Kalderon — who was also abducted from Nir Oz — accused Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, of “cruelly neglecting” the remaining hostages in favor of the escalation. Mr. Kalderon’s children, Sahar and Erez, were released in the weeklong truce with Hamas in November.
Mr. Netanyahu has said that he is committed to securing the release of the remaining hostages. But he has repeatedly said he will not agree to a cease-fire with Hamas that compromises on what he called Israel’s fundamental security needs.
Like many close to the remaining captives, Ms. Dan said she believed Mr. Netanyahu was more worried about the future of his government than securing the release of the hostages. Some of his coalition partners have opposed recent cease-fire proposals.
“What matters to him most is his political survival, and now he’s managed to redirect the conversation close to the anniversary of his resounding failure,” she said. Ms. Dan and others blame Mr. Netanyahu’s government for failing to prevent Hamas’s surprise assault on Israel last year.
Gazans similarly fear that their plight will be shoved aside as the conflict there nears a once-unthinkable milestone: a year of almost constant war. Hundreds of thousands have crowded into an Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” in central and southern Gaza, often living in rudimentary tent encampments where finding enough food and water can be a daily struggle.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have participated in demonstrations calling on the Israeli government to reach an agreement with Hamas to free the captives. The discovery of the six hostages dead in a tunnel a little over three weeks ago — executed by their Hamas guards, according to Israel — shocked the country and prompted mass protests.
But the negotiations stalled, primarily over Mr. Netanyahu’s demand to retain an Israeli military presence along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Hamas immediately rejected the condition.
In Israel, television panels full of former generals and political analysts pick apart the latest reports of strikes and counter-strikes over Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. Correspondents report from northern Israeli communities under rocket fire.
“There’s no momentum, no negotiations, not even a bit of anything. Everyone’s now busy with war in the north,” Mr. Horn said.
The post Families of Hostages and Gazans Feel Forgotten as War Heats Up in Lebanon appeared first on New York Times.
