It’s time for deal... free the hostages
Families fear Hamas captives will die
FAMILIES of hostages held captive by Hamas terrorists in Gaza believe a deal to free them must be done now or they will die.
St e phen Bri sl e y ’s si st er Li anne Sharabi, 48, and nieces Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, were killed in the October 7 attack on Israel, which took 1,300 lives.
His brother- in- law entrepreneur Eli, 51, and Eli’s brother Yossi, 53, were t aken captive. St ephen has si nce received footage of Yossi’s “execution”.
Stephen has begged for action to free Eli and said families face a race against time to help those still being held.
After joining a delegation to hold crunch talks with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Qatari of f icials in London, Stephen, 47, of Bridgend , South Wales, said: “Now is the time for a deal, now i s the time to free the hostages. Hostages will die if the hostilities continue.”
Yesterday US Secretar y of State Antony Blinken said bridging the gap between Israel and Hamas on terms for a new ceasefire and hostage- release deal will take “a lot of work”.
Responding to a proposal from the US, Israel, Qatar and Egypt, Hamas mooted a l engthy plan to f ree all hostages in exchange for hundreds of imprisoned Palestinians, including senior militants, and an end to the war.
Stephen said freeing Eli would be a “crumb of comfort from the nightmare that led to the loss of my sister and nieces”. The family discovered three weeks ago Yossi had been executed. Stephen said: “We were sent videos taunting our family. Videos mocking us. After 24 hours of mental torture we received another at the end of which Yossi’s body was shown. It’s quite clear that he was executed.
“This is what failure looks like. The failure of international diplomacy. The failure to release hostages.” Stephen also said he had put his “faith and d trust” ” in officials to help free Eli and around 100 hostages still held. At a press conference, Stephen sat next to Sharone Lifschitz, whose mum Yocheved, 85, was freed in October, but whose dad, Oded, 83, remains captive. Sharone demanded that Hamas release the hostages and said they “did not need a deal” to free frail and elderly victims. She said: “Terrorists walked into my parents home and took them. They chose to take them and they can choose to return them.”
Eli and Yossi’s brother Sharon Sharabi, 48, said “time is running out” for the hostages. Brother-in-law Raz Matalon, 53, said: “I want to tell Yossi ‘ thank you’ for being so wonderful.”
The body of Yossi was on video, he’d been executed STEPHEN BRISLEY ON THE FATE OF A RELATIVE