Hostage families will participate in a roundtable Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the midst of the ceasefire deal’s increasing fragility as President Donald Trump on Tuesday met Hamas’s threat to end the deal with a countering threat of resuming fighting in Gaza if all remaining hostages are not released by noon on Saturday.
Orna and Ronen Neutra — parents of American-born-and-raised IDF tank commander Omer Neutra, whose body has been held by Hamas since October 7 — are returning to testify before the Committee for a third time.
Wednesday’s roundtable marks the Neutra’s first since learning the fate of their son.
At the Committee’s roundtable last July, coinciding with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address before Congress, Daniel Neutra, Omer’s younger brother, said, “Each day is more dangerous and exhausting.”
Daniel was among the hostage family members who met with Netanyahu during his July visit to Washington.
“The urgency of the matter did not seem to resonate,” Daniel said of the prime minister to the Committee.
In July, Ronen urged members of Congress to take advantage of their unique opportunity to speak with Netanyahu and pressure him to accept the deal.
“Accept the deal. When our loved ones are home, then when the time comes, eliminate and deal with the real head of the octopus, which is Iran,” Ronen told The Jerusalem Post after the July Committee roundtable.
Also participating in the roundtable is former hostage Ilana Gritzwsky, who was kidnapped on October 7 with her partner Matan Zangauker from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Gritzwsky was released from Gaza after 55 days in captivity as part of the first ceasefire and hostage deal agreement in November 2023.
Hamas released a three-minute video of Zangauker in early December of last year.
In the video, Zangauker introduces himself and tells the camera that he has been in captivity for over 420 days.
“The people of Israel, my family, my friends, my mother, Dado, Shani, and my grandmother: The government has neglected us and continues to neglect us day after day. I hope you will do what you can to change the situation and return me with the rest of the prisoners alive and healthy,” Zangauker said in the video.
Zangauker then called on all the people of Israel to demonstrate in front of Netanyahu’s house and not let him sleep.
“Why is this taking so long? Why is there no agreement? Why are we here?” he asked as the video concluded. “Don’t forget us!”
Gal Gilboa-Dalal, whose brother Guy is still held by Hamas, told The Post last week about the complicated emotions for the families whose loved ones are not part of the first stage of the release.
“On one hand, he said, “seeing the people that we fought for being released gives us tremendous hope and great strength.”
However, he also stressed that “there are so many things that could happen” before the second phase.
“It makes a lot of us very worried, especially when we’re speaking about the next phase.”
Ilay David to address committee
Ilay David will speak before the Committee on behalf of his 23-year-old brother Evyatar, who was abducted from the Nova music festival.
Just after the first anniversary of the attacks on October 7, Ilay told The Media Line the only way the war will end is when the remaining hostages return home and a deal is made.
Daniel Lifshitz has fought on behalf of his grandparents Yocheved and Oded since they were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7 and when his grandmother Yocheved was released in October 2023.
Should the deal hold, Oded, a peace activist, is slated to be released in the first phase.
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
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