The parents of two hostages both said Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not fighting for their sons’ release, with one father comparing the prime minister’s apparent detachment to the emotional involvement of US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.

Matan Angrest, 22, a soldier who was abducted from a burning tank while battling terrorists on October 7, 2023, and Alon Ohel, 24, a civilian musician who was attending the Nova music festival when Hamas terrorists kidnapped him to Gaza, have been held in the terror group’s captivity for 557 days, having not been included in either of the two previous sets of hostage releases.

They are among 24 remaining hostages who are known or believed to be alive, while 35 have been confirmed dead by the Israel Defense Forces.

Anat Angrest, wearing her son’s army uniform and with her husband holding a blown-up version of his ID card, said Tuesday at an otherwise-silent protest by the Shift 101 group that the information they’ve received about Matan points to wounds that can’t be reversed, and that “despite that, the prime minister of Israel isn’t fighting for him.”

“I’m wearing his uniform to call attention to the fact that the soldiers haven’t been included in any deal — neither the wounded........

© The Times of Israel