Israel’s PM Pressured Not To Forget Hostages Amid Lebanon Offensive

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced pressure late Wednesday not to forget hostages held in Gaza as he focused on targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the government called for a ceasefire.

Family members of hostages set up a Rosh Hashanah dinner table in Caesarea near Netanyahu’s private residence, highlighting the absence of their loved ones as they marked the start of the Jewish New Year.

As the sun set over Israel, the relatives and other protesters gathered around the long table, draped in a white cloth, with the words “let the old year and its abandonment come to an end” emblazoned down the middle in large yellow and black letters.

One place was laid at the table for each person still held captive by Hamas, 362 days after the October 7 terror onslaught last year.

The protesters gathered as Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati pleaded for a ceasefire in his troubled land, saying intensified hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah had displaced 1.2 million people.

“Stop fighting. We don’t need more blood. We don’t need more destruction,” Mikati said in a briefing organized by the American Task Force on Lebanon, a U.S.-based lobby group. “There is an immediate need for a ceasefire,” he added.

MISSING LOVED ONES

Yet Netanyahu said the offensive was needed to guarantee the return of some 60,000 people to their homes in northern Israel, where they faced relentless rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah. “Enough is enough,” he said.

Back in Caesarea, an Israeli resort town, hostage families also urged a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah’s ally Hamas in Gaza to bring back their loved ones home.

Netanyahu has pledged the hostages won’t be abandoned.

“Hamas kidnapped 251 people from dozens of different countries, dragging them into the dungeons of Gaza. Israel has brought home 154 of these hostages, including 117 who returned alive,” he recalled last week while speaking at the United Nations General Assembly.

“I want to assure you, we will not rest until the remaining hostages are brought home too, and some of their family members are here with us today. I ask you to stand up,” Netanyahu added.

Yet, late Wednesday, all hostage families could do was light a sign reading “Tikva” (”hope”).

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