Last 58 Israeli hostages abandoned by Netanyahu, relatives fume as they mark 600 days in captivity
The remaining 58 Israeli hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas 600 days ago have been “abandoned” and “forgotten” by their government, their anguished relatives have claimed.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also accused of having “failed” on the day of the attacks and every day since by Ofri Bibas, aunt of hostage Kfir, who was 10 months old when he was killed in captivity.“Prime Minister, you failed on that day and have failed for the last 600 days.You didn’t take responsibility and won’t investigate what happened,” said Bibas, whose sister — Kfir’s mother — was also taken captive but later freed, at the press conference, as reported by The Times of Israel.Her comments at a press conference held in Tel Aviv on Wednesday to mark the grim anniversary, directed at Netanyahu, referred to the Israeli leader’s refusal to set up an official inquiry into the Oct.
7, 2023 attacks, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of 251 others.“So many soldiers gave their lives.Wars have to end with diplomacy.
How many more soldiers and hostages have to die for this to end?” Bibas added.Relatives of the remaining 58 hostages accused the Israeli government of abandoning those in the IDF who had fought for their country before being kidnapped by Hamas militants.“I want to turn here to every mother and father: Imagine standing next to me, giving everything for the state and the homeland, but being abandoned and forgotten.It can unfortunately happen to every one of us,” Anat Angrest, whose son Matan was kidnapped from a burning IDF tank, said at the press conference.Many more Israelis will refuse to serve in the IDF or even abandon their citizenship, she warned.“This is not just my war, or the war of the Angrest family, or of 58 families,” she said.Relatives of Israeli casualties in previous conflicts with Hamas also slammed what they saw as the inaction of Netanyahu as they addressed the press f...