Determining families in Israel say hostages have been isolated before they could confront Hezbollah

Holding a photo of his missing son, Tal, Gilad Korngold has struggled for months to keep the spotlight on the more than 100 hostages who still face an unknown fate at the hands of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and other factions in the Gaza Strip. are doing.

Now, Korngold fears an untapped conflict looms with established Hezbollah guerrillas along Israel’s northern border, allowing the hostages to be brutally obliterated.

In the first days and weeks, Israeli captives within the strip of land west of southern Israel were a concern, although now they are “last on the list” for the Israeli government, Gilad told reporters gathered in central Tel Aviv.

“We face a huge threat from the North and I believe that if (war) happened in the North the hostages would disappear forever,” he said.

More than 240 people were taken as hostages from Israel to Gaza by warring factions of Hamas, an ally of the Palestinian group, designated a terrorist group by the US, which launched a major attack on Israel on October 7. About 1,200 people were killed in Israel. And more than 5,400 others were injured.

The Israeli government has launched a full-scale offensive on the densely populated Gaza Strip, vowing to crush Hamas and free the hostages, now approaching the nine-month mark.

The death toll in Palestine since October stands at more than 37,700, according to figures from the Hamas-run State Ministry in Gaza. It has attracted some complaints from the Hamas-led government, even though they have been cited by international fitness groups and the United Nations.

The whereabouts of about 120 hostages in Gaza remain unaccounted for, but Israel has declared more than a third of them dead in captivity. A senior Hamas official told CNN in mid-June that “nobody knows” how many captives were still alive.

Israel has said it is ending operations within the Strip, freeing up resources and transferring them to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.

Gilad Korngold, along with his son, Tal, 39, have spent several months campaigning for greater attention to the hostages in Gaza. The release of the hostages should happen as soon as possible, he said.

Lebanon-based and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah has been launching rockets, missiles and drone attacks across the border into northern Israel since the war in Gaza began in what it says is solidarity with Hamas.

In response, the Israeli government has warned of a large-scale conflict with Hezbollah. Israeli officials say more than 60,000 people were relocated to abandoned settlements south of the border, and 90,000 to 100,000 civilians were displaced in southern Lebanon.

Speaking to reporters in Mitzpe Hilla, a village about five miles from the Lebanese border, Israeli commanders said Monday that Israel was waging both defensive and offensive operations against Hezbollah along the border, including more than 6,000 airstrikes. . Because start the struggle.

“Every day we are sending jet fighters to destroy Hezbollah assets, whether it’s command and control positions (or) weapons depots, and we kill many of their senior officers,” an Israeli commander said amid the drone attack. Are killing.” Just a few miles from the Lebanon border.

Although Israeli officials have said they hope a diplomatic solution will also be found, its military has said it is prepared for any situation and has “approved and validated” an untested plan for an invasion of Lebanon that would It would come a month later, the first such attack since Hezbollah launched a cross-border attack in 2006 after a long conflict.

The US has said it wants to escalate further tensions in the Middle East, and Iran’s project at the UN has warned of “a devastating war” should Israel invade Lebanon.

Korngold said, however, that work in Gaza to repatriate Israeli hostages should be done earlier than in the north. “Israel can do whatever it wants. First of all, hostages.”

Korngold’s son, Tal, was taken from Kibbutz Berri on October 7 by warring Hamas factions, only a few miles from the Gaza border. He was once thrown into the trunk of a car, Korngold said, and his country has not heard anything about his condition in long months.

Omri Miran, whose father, Dani, looked tired and dejected as he spoke to media in Tel Aviv, was taken in a Hamas attack in Nahal Ouns – north of Berri and just meters from the Gaza border .

Dani Miran first heard about his son when the first group of hostages were released from Gaza about six weeks after their capture, he said, and he glimpsed Omri in a video released by Hamas published in late April. Saw.

Hamas released more than 100 hostages in a temporary ceasefire last November, exchanging them for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.

Earlier, an Israeli operation had effectively rescued four hostages, namely Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv. Hamas said that more than 200 Palestinians were killed in this action.

Camping out several times a year in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, the 31-year-old journalist stands under a cover with a virtual-reality headset and data sheets about Hadar Shlomi, who recently received a medical certificate from his family to stay at the medical institute. Have returned to the country. , The headset and goggles simulate what it’s like to be held hostage, as Hadar highlights Ziv’s progress towards autonomy.

“When I gave this speech earlier, I didn’t believe he was alive,” the journalist said. “I’m just trying to give you an idea of ​​how many of them can survive.”

That’s the hope Dani Miran clings to, like Noam, the 20-year-old granddaughter of Shlomo Mantzur, the oldest hostage still held in Gaza. Nor have negative reports reached others in his country about his grandfather, whom he said was taken away without the aid of his hearing and kept in captivity every year on his birthday and 60th wedding anniversary. Was.

Mantzur was once pulled from the country’s defense chamber in Kibbutz Kisufim, northeast of the Gazan city of Khan Yunis. Noam Mantzur reported that he was beaten and slapped before being dragged towards a car with his wife Mazal. His wife was able to depart.

Miran, Noam Mantzur and Goldkorn were once associated with Louis Har. After being held captive in Gaza for 129 days, Har was rescued by Israeli security forces in February, and is a ray of hope for families who are still in the dark about their loved ones.

On October 7, Har was snatched along with four other people and a dog, forcing her to crawl through tunnels in Gaza for several hours before reaching a second-floor rental building.

He was soon to be transferred to another building, where he spent additional weeks as a hostage. The three women of the crew were released in the November alternative resolution, but Har and fellow captive Fernando were rescued, in what he described through an interpreter as “one of the rare successful operations” by Israeli forces. Was described. Retrieve the hostages.

Har advised journalists that there was nothing more impressive than the return of hostages.

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has faced emerging domestic criticism over his handling of the more than 8-month-long war in Gaza. In weekly demonstrations that have called for an immediate ceasefire offer to return hostages, anti-government protesters gathered at Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem on Thursday.

The US has launched a three-step resumption plan, including hostage-taking, as recommended by the United Nations Security Council. It features a “complete and complete ceasefire” in Gaza.

Before this presentation, Netanyahu said he was prepared to prepare a preemptive motion to return one of the hostages, although he stressed that he would “complete the goal of eliminating Hamas.” Were determined to continue the war after a pause.”

Hamas has said it will not release hostages in Gaza until a permanent ceasefire is reached and Israel withdraws its forces from the strip.

Axios reported Saturday that President Joe Biden’s leadership changed the language of a proposed resolution seeking a word from both Israel and Hamas, citing three unnamed assets with direct knowledge of the talks.

“I don’t care about Hamas,” Korngold said. “This is my government, they have to do everything to free the hostages.”