Families of hostages held by Hamas gathered Saturday outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, as they do weekly, to demand swift action to secure the captives’ release. Some accused the government of endangering their loved ones by obstructing a negotiated agreement.
Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, sharply criticized Israeli leaders in a public statement. “My son is experiencing a Holocaust sponsored by the government that sets unrealistic threshold conditions for a deal,” she said. “If instead of putting a comprehensive agreement on the table, the Israeli government decides to expand military operations, it is sentencing the living hostages to death and will disappear the bodies, pushing us away from a solution for another indefinite period of time.”
Zangauker called the government’s actions “clearly illegal” and said they were marked “with a black flag,” a reference in Israeli discourse to decisions viewed as morally or legally indefensible.