JAKARTA - Members of the family of Israeli hostages who are still being held in the raging Gaza. The hostages scolded Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for his refusal to a negotiated deal in Qatar to stop fighting and repatriate their families.
Smotrich called the deal a "disaster" to Israel's security and said Israel should continue military operations in Gaza until Hamas, the militant group that controlled the territory before the war, surrendered completely.
Reported by Reuters on Monday, January 13, dozens of family members were held hostage, many carrying photos of missing persons crammed into the committee room in the Israeli parliament where a financial committee meeting was held to review the 2025 budget.
Some were angry, some were crying and begging. They attacked Smotrich in an emotional meeting that lasted more than an hour, accusing him of leaving the remaining 98 Israeli and foreign hostages in Gaza.
"These kidnapped people (should) be returned," said Ofir Angrest, whose brother, Matan, was held hostage during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
"The conditions are ripe, it's time to make an agreement," said the Prime Minister. "How do you, Minister of Finance, oppose the return of all the victims of this kidnapping?" he said.
Smotrich, leader of one of the hardline nationalist religious parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition, is one of the loudest opponents of the deal he described as a signal' to Hamas.
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Qatar, who is intermediary to negotiations with Egypt and the United States, said it had submitted a draft agreement to Israel and Hamas following last night's "breakthrough".
Yechiel Abid, whose daughter Arbel was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and his son Dolev, reminded Smotrich that he had visited their home in kebbutz.
"I know your heart is in the right place, but you are required to do more than that," he said.
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