Hostage families reject gradual hostage release, demand comprehensive deal including all hostages

Representatives of hostage families held a press conference on Monday evening at the Hostage Families Forum headquarters where they discussed the list of names published by a Saudi news site as part of the negotiations for a ceasefire deal with the Hamas terror group.

The press conference also came in the shadow of a delay in the departure of Mossad Director David Barnea for Doha, the capital of Qatar, where he was expected to arrive for further talks. 

Barnea was expected to arrive in Doha, joining senior U.S. officials, for further talks in the hostage release ceasefire deal. Barnea’s delay in heading to Qatar likely indicates a lack of progress in the talks, due to neither side being willing to compromise on specific issues of the deal. 

During the press conference, family members called on the Israeli government to pursue a comprehensive deal that would lead to the release of all remaining hostages from Gaza. 

The families criticized the current framework of negotiations, which would only see about one-third of the hostages released as part of a temporary ceasefire. 

While many news sites erroneously reported the list of names as being provided by Hamas, the Israeli government later clarified that the list of names came from Israel at an earlier stage of negotiations over the summer. Hamas had simply indicated its approval of the names on the list. 

“The list of hostages that has been published in the media was not provided to Israel by Hamas but was originally given by Israel to the mediators in July 2024,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. 

In the Saudi report, a Hamas official claimed the terror group would need a week to ascertain which hostages are alive and which are deceased. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer rejected that claim, saying the terror group knows where the hostages are. 

"They know precisely who is alive and who is dead. They know precisely where the hostages are," Mencer said in an online press briefing. 

The deal currently being negotiated would last about six or seven weeks and would see all the remaining female, elderly and wounded hostages released in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners, reportedly including some accused of terror crimes. 

Ayelet Goldin, the sister of Hadar Goldin, an IDF officer whose body has been held by Hamas in Gaza since 2014, spoke at the conference. Fighting back tears, she said: "I am standing here today with the families, I have been fighting for the rights of my brother to return to burial in Israel for a decade. I beg you, don't let us, the families, fight each other.” 

She urged the government not to let Hamas control the negotiations. 

“I beg the government of Israel – we have the power. We are a country that has shown crazy strength in the past year, yet we still insist on letting Hamas control us.” 

Yaron Or, the father of hostage Avinatan Or, claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to agree to free only some of the hostages and leave the rest behind. He warned that Hamas would not be willing to release the rest. 

“There will be no more deal, because Hamas will not release them,” Or stated. 

Yotam Cohen, the brother of hostage Nimrod Cohen, criticized the government, saying the current deal could have been achieved in May, saying: “The Israeli government avoided and continues to avoid paying the price necessary to save its citizens.”  

While much of Israeli media has consistently portrayed Netanyahu as the one who compromised previous negotiation attempts by adding conditions that caused talks to break up, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared to acknowledge in a recent interview with the New York Times that Hamas is the main obstacle.

Blinken said, “Whenever there has been public daylight between the United States and Israel and the perception that pressure was growing on Israel, we’ve seen it: Hamas has pulled back from agreeing to a cease-fire and the release of hostages.” 

There is a growing sense among the Israeli public that the current talks are a “fateful round of negotiations,” with the situation likely to change dramatically after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

In a recent podcast with American political commentator Hugh Hewitt, Trump reiterated his warning to Hamas to release the hostages or face consequences. 

“If those hostages aren’t released by the time I get into office, there will be hell to pay,” Trump warned.