“At this moment, we must be united and determined. Israel is making every effort to bring the hostages home. Making every effort in a range of fields. In the end, there is no choice. We must continue the fight, and we must get to Sinwar — either alive or dead — so that we can see the hostages back home.
“From here, I offer strength to the families of the hostages, and I say to them: the State of Israel will do everything to bring them back home.”
On Monday night, Hamas told mediators that it was sticking to its demands for a “permanent ceasefire”, hours after praising the passing of a UN Security Council resolution calling for a temporary halt to fighting in Gaza.
Hamas is still holding 134 of the 253 hostages it captured during its October 7 onslaught on the north-western Negev. Some 1,200 people were killed during the attack and thousands more were wounded.
American, Egyptian, Israeli and Qatari interlocutors have been shuttling to Cairo, Doha and Paris in recent months in an attempt to hash out a ceasefire agreement that would see the release of the remaining abductees.
The Israeli delegation, led by Mossad chief David Barnea, was in the Qatari capital over the weekend amid reports that Jerusalem has softened its stance on critical components of a deal. They were waiting for a response from Hamas’s leadership in Gaza.
Barnea and the delegation returned to Israel last Saturday night after Hamas turned down the latest proposed agreement. However, a source later told Reuters that a small group of Mossad officials will remain in Doha for negotiations.
