Coordinator for the Hostages and the Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing Persons, Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Gal Hirsch reaffirmed, in a statement on Thursday, Israel’s commitment to bringing all remaining hostages home from Gaza.
Shortly after the Prime Minister’s Office announced that the Israeli negotiating team would be returning from Qatar, Hirsch addressed the families of the hostages.
“Following the Hamas response that was delivered to us early this morning, and after examining its details in recent hours, it was agreed that the negotiation team will return to Israel for consultations. The talks are continuing and will also continue from Israel,” he said.
Hirsch explained that the team’s return was intended to provide advice on how to narrow the gaps in the negotiations. “The negotiation team has been operating in Doha for 18 days. During this extended period, we have come a long way in order to make progress.”
He added that “In the face of many difficulties that Hamas has posed and is posing, we have continuously and resolutely exhausted every chance and possibility of reaching an agreement, and we will continue to do so.”
“We continue to act in the same spirit and the same directive in order to return all of our kidnapped people home, both the living and the dead. We will add and update as soon as possible,” he said.
Hostage families respond with concern
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum responded to the negotiating team being recalled, stating, “The families of hostages are following with deep concern the reports that the Israeli negotiating team has returned from Doha.
“The negotiations have dragged on for far too long. Each day that passes endangers the hostages’ chances of recovery and risks losing the ability to locate the fallen or gain vital intelligence about them.”
The forum then called on leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, and Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing Persons, Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Gal Hirsch, “to provide an immediate update on the current status of the negotiations and the main gaps preventing a deal.”
The forum’s statement continued: “Another missed opportunity to bring all 50 hostages back would be inexcusable. It would be yet another moral, security, and diplomatic failure in an endless chain of failures.”
Finally, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum urged US President Donald Trump to assist in securing a deal. “You’ve already brought 39 hostages home. The window is still open – please don’t let it close. Your leadership can make the difference.”
On Thursday morning, the PMO confirmed that mediators had delivered Hamas’s response to the Israeli negotiating team, and that the proposal was being examined.
An Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas’s most recent response to the ceasefire proposal was “better than the last,” and that the terror group was reviewing it.