Hostage families plead with Israel to agree to deal approved by Hamas

The relatives of the remaining hostages in Gaza have issued yet another appeal to the Israeli government to agree to a deal to bring them home, after the Palestinian Hamas militia agreed to a comprehensive ceasefire-for-hostages deal.

“After 700 days, we are finally hearing from both Israel and Hamas about their desire to reach a comprehensive agreement for the return of all hostages – the living for rehabilitation and the deceased for proper burial,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement posted on Thursday on its X account.

“We call on Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, the US administration, and mediators to convene the negotiating teams immediately and have them sit around the negotiating tables until a deal is reached,” they said.

The relatives of the remaining 48 hostages held in Gaza said “time is running out” for them to be brought back to Israel. Some 20 of the hostages held in Gaza by Hamas and other militants since October 7, 2023, are believed to be still alive.

“Take to the streets, stand with us, and cry out for the return of all hostages and an end to the war,” the statement from the families said.

The latest proposal on a potential ceasefire between Israel and Hamas goes back to a plan by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, which envisages a 60-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of 10 living hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

But Netanyahu has since insisted he wants a comprehensive deal that facilities the release of all hostages at once. He also wants Hamas to capitulate and demilitarize – which the militant group rejects.

It remains unclear whether Hamas would be prepared to release all hostages at the same time, but on Wednesday the group said it was still waiting for Israel’s response after it had agreed to the latest proposal for a ceasefire.

The militants said they were prepared to enter into a “comprehensive agreement” including the release of all hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

But Israel, whose troops are preparing to capture Gaza City, has decried the statements as “manipulation,” claiming they contain nothing new.

Israeli business calls attention to Gaza hunger

In the first protest of its kind by an Israeli company, the fashion chain Comme il faut has launched a campaign to call attention to the hunger situation in the Gaza Strip.

In social media posts in English, Arabic and Hebrew, the company’s posts feature women and one man dressed in black and holding empty pots under the slogan “Resist Starvation.”

“A short drive away from us, people are starving,” the well-known fashion chain wrote.

The company said it felt an urgent need “to scream on behalf of all those who cannot scream.” It added: “We demand an end to the starvation in Gaza – which also includes the hostages.”

On August 22, the globally recognized Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared a famine in Gaza City in the north and some neighbouring areas last month. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu dismissed the report as “an outright lie.”

Israel says the IPC’s assessment is based on false information provided by Hamas, which also controls Gaza’s health authority. The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for the Palestinian Territories, recently reported that around 300 trucks carrying food aid enter the embattled coastal strip daily.

Aid organizations have said the amounts of food being allowed into Gaza are nowhere near enough to improve the situation.