Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Tuesday, Aug 20, meeting that he’s “not sure there will be a deal,” according to hostage families representing far-rights groups demanding that their loved ones be freed by military action and endless war rather than via a deal with Hamas.

According to Haaretz, Netanyahu is “once again sabotaging the talks” for the release of the hostages. His statements indicating that Israel would not withdraw from the Gaza-Egypt border, at a time when sensitive negotiations are underway for finding a solution there, only make it more difficult to find a solution, increasing suspicions, signaling to Hamas and the mediators that Netanyahu is uninterested in a deal.”

Demonstrators blocking Begin Street and call for the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. Other protests were held in Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheva and Emek Hefer, August 20, 2024 (Photo: Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

According to Haaretz’s columnist Amos Harel, “Netanyahu, firm on retaining control of key Gaza routes and resuming fighting, signaled to Hamas leader Sinwar: No deal.” The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which advocates for an immediate ceasefire and a deal to bring the captives home, blasted Netanyahu for the comments, accusing him of permanently abandoning the hostages to their fates in Gaza. “The prime minister’s remarks are effectively torpedoing the hostage deal,” the forum said. “Netanyahu won’t face that abandoning the hostages leads to their being murdered in captivity.”

In addition, a senior government official attempted to hire a PR professional to sabotage the Hostages and Missing Families Forum two weeks after October 7, the PR professional Ofer Rosenbaum told the unofficial October 7 probe Tuesday. The probe was founded by families of those killed on October 7, representatives from the attacked kibbutzim, and civil society groups last month. One of the primary goals of the committee, which is composed of legal and security experts, is to initiate the foundation of a state probe, which was shot down by Israel’s far-right government.

Rosenbaum, who heads the PR company Rosenbaum Group, behind some of the more controversial campaigns in Israel, is also the head of the unofficial probe’s headquarters. He decided to testify on Tuesday because the news of six bodies of hostages in Hamas captivity returned to Israel, and other testimony heard by the committee this week, he said. The pretext for hiring his services to take apart the forum was that the hostage families “are making a lot of noise and mess.”

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32071