Families of hostages with British links held by Hamas in Gaza on Monday warned that Israel’s escalation of hostilities with Hezbollah could distract from their loved ones being freed.
Sharone Lifschitz, whose parents were taken hostage during Hamas’s attack on Israel last year, warned that an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon would “take away” the focus from the remaining hostages.
Her mother, Yocheved, was released, but father Oded, 84, remains in captivity.
Next week marks one year since Hamas’s attack resulted in 1,205 deaths and 251 people taken hostage, with 97 still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,615 people, most of them civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
Israel has now turned its attention to Lebanon, launching deadly air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds across the country.
However, for Steve Brisley, whose brother-in-law Eli Sharabi is still being held captive in Gaza, that “takes focus away from what is the most important thing, which is the release of the hostages.”
He said there had been an “abject failure of international diplomacy” in securing a hostage return deal and felt as though the hostages had “been forgotten”.
Brisley called for the UK government, which has called for a ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages, to find a “new and innovative” approach to end the crisis.
Lifschitz said there was a lack “of will from both sides”, referring to Israel and Hamas.
Meeting UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy earlier in the day, the family members pushed for the government to prioritise bringing their relatives back home.
“I hold the prime minister responsible for the life of these hostages”, said Lifschitz, adding she was feeling “encouraged” by the meeting.
Starmer told the families that “we need to see the hostages returned immediately and unconditionally”.
The relatives also received a message from Britain’s head of state King Charles III and his wife Queen Camilla, who said they “continue to keep them and all hostage families in our special thoughts”.
