Families of the hostages: "Refusal of the deal is a death sentence for prisoners"

A demonstration against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from the camp of the murdered families in front of the Knesset

More than 700 Israelis took part in a rally of solidarity with the hostages outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home on Aza Street in Jerusalem on the evening of Tuesday, February 19.

Demonstrators who gathered under the slogans “Refusal of the deal is a death sentence” and “They are still in captivity” demanded that the prime minister immediately conclude an exchange deal with Hamas and achieve the release of the captives. Several protesters set fire to smoke bombs, one of them was detained by the police.

Previously, February 14, Netanyahu canceled the trip of the Israeli delegation for the next round of mediated negotiations on the deal, which was to take place in Cairo. He explained that Hamas is putting forward conditions that are obviously unacceptable for Israel, and therefore the negotiations have lost their meaning.

On the evening of February 19, the head of the IDF press service, Brigadier General Daniel Hagari, at a special briefing on Monday evening showed the videothe footage of which shows 36-year-old Shiri Bibas and her sons – baby Kfir and four-year-old Ariel.

(Filming: IDF press service)

Let us remind you that the Bibas family was captured by terrorists in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023 and was held in the Gaza Strip for 136 days. Earlier, in November 2023, Hamas announced that Shiri and her children were killed. The video is believed by army experts to have been taken shortly after the abduction east of Khan Younes, in the southern Gaza Strip.

“We are seriously concerned about the fate of Shiri Bibas and her children,” Hagari admitted.

Meanwhile, it became known that the families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip demanded that an urgent meeting be organized for them with Defense Minister Yoav Galant. The reason for the appeal was a conversation with Minister Gadi Eizenkot, a member of the narrow military cabinet, who, according to the relatives of the captives, reported “increasing difficulties in achieving the goals of the war, including the release of hostages.”

In a statement, the headquarters of the families of the abducted and missing said that the meeting was necessary to ask the Minister of Defense whether he, as before, considers the release of hostages his duty.

The families of the hostages warned that they were waiting for a response from Galant before the next meeting of the war cabinet. If there is no response, they will wait for the Minister of Defense at the exit from the Kiriya military base in Tel Aviv, where the meeting is to take place.

The headquarters recalled the request submitted 11 days ago for a meeting with Netanyahu and members of the narrow cabinet. This request had not been satisfied by the time the statement was published.