The Hostages and Missing Families Forum responded to Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu's statement in an interview with Kol Hai Radio, in which he said "we need to define the hostages as prisoners and deal with them only at the end of the war."
The forum claimed that "Minister Eliyahu's outrageous statement crossed even his own low threshold. The minister embodies a severe ethical and moral failure. He does not represent the will of the people who demand the return of all hostages and end of fighting. Anyone who speaks this way about hostages rotting in Hamas death tunnels for 662 days weakens Israel and strengthens Hamas."