- Families of hostages held in Gaza losing patience
- Israel says it plans to direct Palestinians out of Rafah
- Senate majority leader Schumer calls for new elections in Israel
Jerusalem: A brother contemplated suicide. A sister stopped going to school. A father barely speaks. With each passing day, the relatives of hostages held in Gaza since Oct. 7 face a deepening despair.
Their hopes were raised that a cease-fire deal was near to bring some of their loved ones home by the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that began Monday. But that informal deadline passed without any agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise of “total victory” in the war against Hamas now rings hollow for many hostages’ families after five emotionally draining months.
“We are reading the news every single minute. Egypt says something, the Qataris say something different, the Americans say a deal is close, Israel says it’s not,” said Sharon Kalderon, whose brother-in-law, Ofer, remains in captivity. “We try to read between the lines, but we haven’t heard anything about Ofer for months. Nothing that can help us breathe.”
When Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, they killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 hostages.
About 120 hostages were freed during a November cease-fire that also led to the release of hundreds of Palestinians from Israeli prisons; three hostages were accidentally killed by Israeli forces during an attempted rescue mission. Now families are focused on bringing home the remaining hostages, at least 34 of whom are dead, according to the Israeli government.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said Wednesday it plans to direct a significant portion of the 1.4 million displaced Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip’s southernmost town of Rafah toward “humanitarian islands” in the center of the territory ahead of its planned offensive in the area.
The fate of the people in Rafah has been a major area of concern of Israel’s allies — including the United States — and humanitarian groups, worried an offensive in the densely crowded region with so many displaced people would be a catastrophe. Rafah is also Gaza’s main entry point for desperately needed aid.
In another development, an Israeli drone strike targeted a car in southern Lebanon near the coastal city of Tyre, killing a member of the Palestinian militant Hamas group and a civilian.
Since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza on Oct. 7, Israeli strikes have killed or wounded several ranking members of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, as well as its ally Hamas in different parts of Lebanon.
Hamas identified its slain member as Hadi Mustafa and said he was with the group’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades. Lebanese state media said he was from the Rashidieh refugee camp near Tyre, where Hamas has a notable presence.
The Israeli military released a video of the strike and said Mustafa was directing cells to attack “Israeli and Jewish targets” in different parts of the world and reiterated that the Israeli army and security agencies will go after Hamas wherever the Palestinian group is active.
