Friday, in a laconic and cryptic statement just before sunset, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Prime Minister “would make a special statement at the end of the Shabbat (Saturday evening) on a diplomatic case”.
Hebrew Media reported that the declaration should be registered, without the possibility of media issues.
Potential “diplomatic questions” on the table include negotiations during hostage-trick with the Hamas terrorist group and discussions between the United States and Iran on the Islamic Republic nuclear program, but it was not clear what the Prime Minister intended to speak.
Nothing indicates that Netanyahu announces a breakthrough in talks for a hostage agreement, without any progress reported in recent days.
The Prime Minister’s office declared anxiety among hostage families, who condemned the vague announcement apparently designed to keep the country pending.
“Such a declaration … We throw us into a whirlwind of indescribable emotions and suffering,” wrote Viki Cohen, the mother of the hostage Nimrod Cohen, on social networks.
Viki and Romi Cohen, mother and sister twin of hostage Nimrod Cohen, speak to Hotages Square on February 1, 2025 (photo of Avshalom Sassoni / Flash90)
She said that the only declaration she hopes to hear the Prime Minister is that he will stop war and bring all the hostages.
“Any other statement will break my heart,” she said. “I ask you to consider during the holidays what we are going through while we are looking forward to your ad.”
Herut Nimrodi, the mother of the hostage Tamir Nimrodi, told Channel 12 on Friday: “They do not inform us personally, we discover it through the media like everyone, and are in a big emotional whirlwind.”
Herut Nimrodi poses for a portrait with a poster of his son, the captive soldier Tamir Nimrodi, during a gathering in Tel Aviv, on January 14, 2025. (AP photo / Maya Alleruzzo)
Netanyahu’s statement should take place at the same time as the hostages of the hostages and their supporters will resume their weekly gatherings in Tel Aviv and elsewhere across the country, after a break last week because of a week’s vacation, which ends in Israel on Saturday evening.
Friday, a Passover event took place in Tel Aviv’s Outages Square, where a major rally is scheduled for the following night. The hostage families forum said that the demonstration would include speakers released in captivity Omer Shem Tov; Ex-host Ilana Gritzewsky, whose partner Matan Zangauker remains in captivity of Hamas; Anat Angrest, mother of the hostage Matan Aregrest; Ayelet Samerano, mother of the hostage killed Jonathan Samerano, whose remains are always held in Gaza; Idit Ohel, mother of the captive Alon Ohel; And Liron Oberlander, a cousin of Rom Roma Braslavski.
This document photo of the hostage families forum shows the families of the captives of Hamas and their supporters gathered on the Place des Otages de Tel Aviv for a Passover event, April 18, 2025. (Lior Rotstein)
Israel estimates that 59 hostages are still held by terrorist groups in Gaza, at least 35 of which have been confirmed by the FDI. The group includes 58 hostages kidnapped on October 7, 2023, and the body of the Israeli soldier of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin, who was killed in 2014.
Since the start of the war, 139 hostages have been released by Hamas and the bodies of eight hostages killed have returned to two transactions at the end of 2023 and at the beginning of 2025. Eight hostages were saved by living troops, and the bodies of 41 captives were recovered from Gaza by the Israeli army.
