Discussions to free the more than 200 hostages have been underway since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing hundreds. Five hostages — including two women taken from a kibbutz near Gaza, an American mother and daughter and Private Ori Megidish — have been rescued or released.
Speaking Sunday on “Meet the Press,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the government knows “a great deal” about where the hostages are, but did not elaborate.
Michael Levy, who said he’s been told his brother Or is one of the hostages, said he tries “to keep the optimistic part stronger, but it’s not easy, especially not the fact that we see how Hamas is trying to play with our minds and release those videos and tell the hostages what to say.”
One of those videos, released Oct. 30 by Hamas’ military wing, showed 50-year-old Yelena Troufanov, sitting to the right of two other women.
Her husband, Vitaly, was killed, and her mother, Irena; son, Sasha, and his girlfriend, Sapir, were all kidnapped. Video showed Sapir being taken to Gaza on the back of a motorcycle.
With no relatives to call out for their return, their friends, Shiri Grosbard and Ilan Shusterman, are speaking for them.
“We have a saying in Hebrew,” Grosbard said, “which basically means that we stand up for each other, we vouch for each other. “And this family doesn’t have anyone to speak for them, because they’ve all been either murdered or kidnapped so we’re here because they will not be forgotten.”
She added: “We’re their family for now, until they come back, until they come home.”
On Saturday, Sasha Troufanov turned 28. The friends lit candles on a birthday cake for him and vowed not to blow them out until he’s back. And they hoped his grandmother, Irena, a retired pediatrician has been kept close to children to help care for them.
Grosbard shared a message for the family: “Please, please stay safe and please take care of yourselves, and please know that everyone here is doing everything that they can to bring you home safe.”
A Biden administration official told NBC News on Sunday one possible deal that’s being discussed includes the release of about 80 women and children in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and teenagers held in Israel. The U.S. is also exploring other options, according to the official, and it’s not certain any will succeed.
The Israel Defense Forces have said 239 hostages are being held.
The diplomat with knowledge of the talks said, “We don’t currently have a clear picture of how many are held,” while the United Nations says holding hostages and refusing access to them is a war crime.
The Biden Administration has been pushing the Israeli government for a pause in the fighting to allow the hostages to be released, but Netanyahu has reiterated that there will be no cease-fire without the release of the hostages.
On “Meet the Press,” Netanyahu said, “We weren’t close at all until we started the ground invasion. We heard that there’s an impending deal of this kind or that kind. It was nothing, but the minute we started the ground operation things began to change.”
Netanyahu said there “could be” a potential hostage deal, “the result of pressure, military pressure.”
Not all the families and friends believe that the military campaign is the right approach. Yonatan Zeigen’s 74-year-old mother, Vivian Silver, was taken from kibbutz Be’eri.
“When people say here, no ceasefire without all the hostages,” he said, “in my mind, we are actually saying that we’re giving time for the military solution. Take your time, win, whatever that means, and we’ll see who’s left of the hostages.”
The lack of information is compounding the agony for the families.
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