Israel’s Netanyahu vows combined military-diplomatic push to free Gaza hostages

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the family of Alon Ohel, a hostage still held in Gaza, that a combined military and diplomatic effort is ongoing to defeat Hamas and secure the release of all hostages, his office said on Wednesday.

Kobi Ohel, the hostage’s father, said he and his wife hope Netanyahu will return from his U.S. trip with “news that all the people of Israel are waiting for.”

Netanyahu is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday and meet with President Donald Trump to discuss the hostage situation.

”His trip is a moment for all the cabinet ministers to give (Netanyahu) the backing and the strength so that he will act to secure the release of Alon and all the hostages,” added Ohel in a statement released by the Hostages Families Forum, which represents the families of most Israeli captives held in Gaza.

According to Reuters, 48 hostages remain in Gaza, with around 20 believed to be alive.

The United Nations estimated at the end of August that around one million people lived in Gaza City and its surroundings, where it has declared a famine.

The Israeli military says roughly 550,000 people have since fled the city and moved southward, while Gaza’s civil defence agency – a rescue force operating under Hamas authority – puts the number at around 450,000.

Over nearly two years, Israeli military operations have killed at least 65,419 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, figures the UN considers reliable.

Hamas’s attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an Israeli figures.

With inputs from agencies