Families of Gaza hostages wrote a letter to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who currently heads the hostage negotiation team, demanding that he “pay attention” to and meet with them on Sunday.
In the letter, nearly 50 family members of hostages expressed their “concern, anxiety, and growing anger” with the lack of progress in hostage negotiations, and that “it feels like the issue of returning our loved ones continues to be pushed to the bottom of the national priority list.”
“The feasible and appropriate framework that would ensure the release of all hostages in a single phase has been abandoned in favor of reports about a series of partial frameworks,” the letter stated.
The families added that it was Dermer’s responsibility to stay in the negotiating room until a comprehensive deal was reached.
“As long as you are not in the negotiation room, we turn to you again with a demand – meet with us, all the families of the hostages, immediately. Pay attention to us,” they wrote, saying that they felt “forgotten in the darkness.”
The letter concluded with a call for him to meet with them and provide updates “as soon as possible.”
Nearly two months as hostage negotiation head
Dermer took the lead over last month from Mossad Director David Barnea, who led the negotiations for phase one of the deal.
The last hostage exchange was on February 26, when the bodies of Itzik Elgart, Tsahi Idan, Ohad Yahalomi, and Shlomo Mansour were returned.
There have been no announcements regarding the release of the remaining hostages.