Family of Israeli hostages say conflict with Lebanon is taking focus away from people still held captive by Hamas
30 September 2024, 17:38 | Updated: 30 September 2024, 18:00
Family members of hostages being held by Hamas have said Israel’s war with Lebanon is distracting the country’s government from agreeing a deal to return their loved ones home.
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The last week has seen Israel bombarded Lebanon, killing Hezbollah’s leader, with the country reportedly preparing for a ground invasion.
But this switch in focus away from Gaza has seen Israel’s government become distracted from agreeing a deal to return the almost 100 hostages still in captivity, one family member has told LBC.
Speaking at a press conference today, Sharone Lifschitz, whose 83-year-old father has been held hostage since October 7, told LBC’s Charlotte Lynch that Israel’s assault on Lebanon “does not help the hostages.”
She said: “I think Hezbollah has grown strong over several years. That's another timeline, but it takes away from the hostages.
“They're there, and if there's a ground invasion in Persian, they will all they've been telling us that nothing will happen for two weeks or three weeks or five weeks. So we are in a losing battle.
“We have been on this mudslide for a year, and it's getting worse and worse, and anything that take away the possibility of all the parties sitting together and reaching a deal does not help the hostages.”
Reports of a deal for the return of hostages between Israel and Hamas have faded in recent weeks, following the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh by the IDF.
Lifschitz continued: “I spoke at a parliamentary event in January to mark the 100 days (since October 7), and in response to a question from one of the MPs there, I said, ‘I don't want to be back here talking about 150 days or 200 days, and here we are at 350 days.’
“There's been a delay at every stage, it's been ‘there's a deal, there's a new deal, it's an amended deal’.
“‘There's communication problems, there's a UK election, there's a US election. There's war in the north. There's it's an ever moving deadline for the hostages.’
“The word dead in deadline is a very, very real possibility, and so we talk about kicking the can down the road here.
“Will things change because of the American election? Can we? Can we wait for the American election?
“No, we cannot wait for the American election and the outcome of that because we've seen with the murders of the six hostages, which, as we understand it, were by a Hamas terrorists who got spooked by the IDF being nearby.
“That's the sort of thing that's going that's going to happen increasingly so the prospect of waiting for another five weeks for an outcome and another eight, nine or ten weeks for a new president to take office is is simply not one that we can we can countenance.”
This comes after Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem said that Israel would not achieve its aims in Lebanon, even as elite IDF troops began sabotage missions, targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, weapons sites and command centres.
Israeli strikes killed five members of my family, says mother returning to UK
Mr Qassem was defiant despite the prospect of an invasion, saying in an address: "We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement."
He added that the group’s operations will continue and they are braced for ‘patience’ and the possibility of a long conflict.
Meanwhile the Lebanese government itself said that it wanted a ceasefire. Prime Minister Najib Mikati said: "The key to the solution is to put an end to the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and to revive the appeal launched by the United States and France … in favour of a ceasefire".
The UK government has called repeatedly over the past few days for British citizens in the country to leave. It said on Monday that it is doing everything possible to get British people out.
