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Time is running out: Ruby Chen, the father of a 19-year-old hostage at the protest in Tel Aviv

Photo: Alberto Pizzoli / AFP

The relatives of Hamas hostages still held in the Gaza Strip have called on Israel to cease hostilities. "We only accept corpses," said Noam Perry, whose father, Haim Perry, is still in the hands of the radical Islamic group Hamas. "We want you to stop the fight and start negotiations," she said at an event hosted by the Forum for Hostages and Missing Families in Tel Aviv.

In Israel, the accidental killing of three hostages by Israeli soldiers has sparked grief and protests. The men were shot dead during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip. Initial investigations revealed that the three hostages had approached the soldiers with a makeshift white flag, but this was perceived by them as a threat.

Shortly after the incident became known on Friday, hundreds of people gathered in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv to demand a quick new agreement with Hamas to release the remaining hostages. According to the latest Israeli figures, 129 hostages are still in the hands of the terrorist organization Hamas.

Hostages have returned – "but not alive"

"We feel like we're playing Russian roulette," said Ruby Chen, father of a 19-year-old hostage. "They told us that the ground offensive would bring back the abductees," Chen said. Since then, hostages have returned, "but not alive," he criticized.

The war between Israel and Hamas has been going on for ten weeks, with hundreds of Hamas fighters, a terrorist organization designated by the EU and the US, infiltrating Israeli towns on October 7 and committing unprecedented atrocities against civilians. According to Israeli figures, more than 1130,240 people were killed and around <> were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip.

In response, the Israeli army has since bombed targets in the Gaza Strip and launched a ground offensive. Some 18,800 people have been killed so far, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified.

czl/AFP