US Envoy Meets Hostage Families as IDF Issues Gaza Ultimatum

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met with the anguished families of Israeli hostages in Tel Aviv on Saturday, offering a diplomatic ear to their desperate pleas as Israel’s top general issued a stark ultimatum: a deal for the captives’ release in the coming days, or combat will continue "without rest."

The high-stakes meeting took place nearly 22 months into the war sparked by Hamas's Oct. 2023 attack, with fears mounting for the survival of the 49 hostages still held in Gaza. Witkoff was greeted by hundreds of protesters chanting "Bring them home!" and "We need your help," the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported, before he entered a closed meeting with the families.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum confirmed the meeting was underway. Yotam Cohen, the brother of 21-year-old hostage Nimrod Cohen, told AFP that the families believe the Israeli government must be pushed to end the war.

"The war needs to end. The Israeli government will not end it willingly," Cohen said. "The Israeli government must be stopped. For our sakes, for our soldiers' sakes, for our hostages' sakes, for our sons and for the future generations of everybody in the Middle East."

Following the meeting, the Forum released a statement saying Witkoff had given them a personal commitment that he and U.S. President Donald Trump would work to return the remaining hostages.

The visit comes as diplomatic efforts have stalled. Talks mediated by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar broke down last month, placing immense domestic pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to find a way to secure the hostages.

This diplomatic push is set against a grim military backdrop. In a statement released by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), army chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir delivered a clear message during a visit to troops in Gaza on Friday.

"I estimate that in the coming days we will know whether we can reach an agreement for the release of our hostages," Zamir stated. "If not, the combat will continue without rest."

According to the military, of the 251 people kidnapped from Israel during Hamas's attack, 49 remain in Gaza, 27 of whom are believed to be dead. Palestinian armed groups this week released two videos showing hostages who appeared emaciated and weak.

The war has also created a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Witkoff’s visit to Tel Aviv followed a trip on Friday to a U.S.-backed aid station in Gaza. The UN and humanitarian agencies have warned that more than two million Palestinian civilians are facing starvation, a claim Zamir vehemently denied.

"The current campaign of false accusations of intentional starvation is a deliberate, timed, and deceitful attempt to accuse the IDF, a moral army, of war crimes," the IDF chief said in his statement, adding, "The ones responsible for the killing and suffering of the residents in the Gaza Strip is Hamas."

However, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed 21 people in the territory on Saturday alone. The UN human rights office in the Palestinian territories reported on Friday that at least 1,373 Palestinians seeking aid had been killed since May 27, most of them by the Israeli military.

Adnan Abu Hasna, of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), told AFP that thousands of aid trucks are ready to enter Gaza but "the crossings are closed by political decision."

According to a tally based on official figures, Hamas's 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people in Israel, mostly civilians. The Israeli military reports that 898 of its soldiers have been killed. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,332 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which the UN has deemed reliable.

In his remarks to commanders, LTG Zamir praised the army's "impressive and unprecedented accomplishments" and stated that the IDF would adapt its methods to maintain pressure on Hamas —a movement designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom—until the war's objectives are achieved.