The families of Israeli hostages have “mixed feelings” about the ceasefire deal, the brother-in-law of one man held captive in Gaza has said.
The proposed deal will see the Israeli hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and the withdrawal of IDF troops from Gaza.
In the first phase, 33 hostages will be released
On The Pat Kenny Show, Moshe Emilio Lavi, whose brother-in-law is hostage Omri Miran, said there are still many things his family does not know.
“Feelings are mixed today because we know only about the first phase of the deal,” he said.
“It’s still unclear whether the next few phases will be completed and so, there’s no certainty the deal will be carried out.
“We obviously have no trust in Hamas to carry out the agreement appropriately."
Omri Miran and his wife Lishay Lavi. Image: Supplied.Mr Lavi also expressed concern about the ability of Hamas to rebuild in the future, emphasising it is the “duty” of Israel and other countries in the Middle East to “manage Hamas”.
“To see how we can find a path to ensure that Hamas doesn’t regroup, doesn’t rearm and allow Gaza to prosper in the future as a good neighbour to our country - the State of Israel,” he said.
“We will continue to defend ourselves in the future and, hopefully, policymakers will understand that they need to find diplomatic solutions to the root causes of this conflict.”
Today, after many months of intensive diplomacy by the United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage deal.
My diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done – I will speak more about this soon. pic.twitter.com/iETWhGXEGA
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 15, 2025
Mr Levi said he plans to “keep fighting until everyone is home” but at this point is unsure whether his brother-in-law is even alive.
“I share empathy with those non-combatants in Gaza who have been affected by the war that Hamas launched on October 7th,” he said.
“We haven’t received much news about Omri but in late April, a video was released of him - a psychological warfare video featuring him.
“He didn’t look well but we were relieved to see he was alive and it gave us the strength to continue advocating for him with our own Government, with our own elected officials and, of course, worldwide.”
The deal has yet to be ratified by the Israeli Government but a majority of Cabinet ministers are understood to support it.
Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has threatened to resign and Mr Levi described him as someone who “hasn’t been an ally of families of hostages” since the conflict began.
Main image: Omri, his wife Lishay and their daughter Roni. Picture: Supplied.
