A group representing the families of hostages in Gaza — including six captives whose bodies the Israeli military recently retrieved from a tunnel there — say that harrowing details about the conditions of their captivity indicate that those still held by Hamas are in “grave danger.”
The Hostages Families Forum, which represents relatives of many of the captives, said in a statement on Monday that families of the six dead hostages had been briefed on an Israeli military investigation that described some of the conditions their loved ones endured. The information, the group said, exposed “an utterly horrific reality.”
The six hostages — whom Israeli officials have said Hamas fatally shot at close range shortly before soldiers found their bodies — had been confined in narrow underground tunnels about 30 inches wide, “where they could neither stand nor move freely,” the families said, citing the investigation. Autopsies showed that the hostages “suffered from significant malnutrition, severe weight loss and long-term physical neglect,” that some had untreated injuries and that one “was found with signs of being tied up,” they said.
“These revelations provide irrefutable proof that the hostages still held in Gaza are in grave danger,” and that “their lives hang by a thread,” the statement said. The group renewed its call for a hostage deal, saying, “Time is running out.”
But international mediators don’t appear optimistic that a deal to secure the hostages’ freedom is near.
“We know how urgent this is,” John F. Kirby, a spokesman for President Biden, told reporters at a briefing on Monday, noting that American mediators had been working “night and day” on a deal. He blamed Hamas for the lack of progress, saying that the group changed some of the terms laid out previously, “and that has made it more difficult for us to get there.”
Hamas has pushed back on blame for the lack of progress toward a deal. On Monday, Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said in a statement that it was “a lie” that the group had made additional demands. He said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel had introduced new conditions.
Mr. Netanyahu, for his part, has been insistent that Israel cannot withdraw from a strip of Gaza that borders Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, as part of any agreement because it would be a security vulnerability. Both Egypt and Hamas oppose a continued Israeli presence in the area.
Some Israelis, including many relatives of hostages, contend that Mr. Netanyahu is being unnecessarily adamant on the point, and not prioritizing the captives’ return. Even after the discovery of the six slain captives drove tens of thousands of Israelis into the streets in protest last week, Mr. Netanyahu repeatedly insisted that Israel couldn’t withdraw from the corridor, and said that putting military pressure on Hamas as negotiations proceed is the best way to ensure the hostages return home.
On Monday, Mr. Netanyahu issued a brief, somber video statement addressing the captives’ families. “I hear the anguish of the hostages’ families,” he said. “I hear the anguish of those who have lost what is dearest to them.”
The statement came after a recording of a conversation between Mr. Netanyahu and Rabbi Elhanan Danino — the father of Ori Danino, one of the six recently slain hostages — was released and widely covered in the Israeli news media on Monday. Mr. Danino put the onus for his son’s death on what he called Mr. Netanyahu’s “petty” policies and politicking, beginning long before the war.
Mr. Netanyahu, in his statement, described going to “heartbreaking” meetings with the captives’ relatives.
“I hear. I listen. And I also don’t judge,” he said. “I am doing everything to return the hostages and win the war.”
The post Hostages Still Held by Hamas Are in ‘Grave Danger,’ Families Warn appeared first on New York Times.