Strategic Affairs Minister Dermer to meet with family of slain hostage Omer Neutra following letter from hostage families

After families of the remaining hostages in Gaza wrote a letter to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, telling him that they feel abandoned by the government, Dermer has reportedly invited the family of slain hostage Omer Neutra for a meeting. 

The letter from the hostage families to Dermer was published by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. In the letter, the families accuse the government of leaving them “in complete darkness” regarding any progress or lack of progress in the negotiations. 

“Minister Dermer, when you were appointed as head of the negotiating team, we were promised that this would help reach a breakthrough on a new agreement,” the families wrote. “In reality, more than a month has passed and there is no progress in sight.”

“The hostages are in immediate danger – the living are in danger of death and the dead are in danger of vanishing,” the letter continued. 

The families pushed Dermer to agree to a “comprehensive agreement” that would return all the hostages at once. 

“The feasible and appropriate framework that would ensure the release of all hostages in a single phase has been abandoned in favor of reports about a series of partial frameworks,” the letter stated.

“Minister Dermer, the responsibility and authority is in your hands. Do not leave the negotiating room until you achieve a comprehensive agreement.” 

In asking to meet with Dermer, the families said that “it feels like the issue of returning our loved ones continues to be pushed to the bottom of the national priority list.” 

The letter was signed by dozens of hostage family members and former hostage Yair Horn, whose brother Eitan is still in Gaza. 

Dermer was appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lead the hostage-ceasefire negotiations in February, replacing Mossad chief David Barnea. Barnea lead the negotiations over most of the past year, including the negotiations for the first phase of the hostage-ceasefire which started in mid-January. 

The last hostage exchange happened on Feb. 26, with the release of the bodies of Itzik Elgart, Tsachi Idan, Ohad Yahalomi, and Shlomo Mansour. 

Last week, a report in Channel 12 claimed that some in the negotiating team were critical of Dermer’s performance as the new negotiating lead. 

“It's all well and good to call it diplomatic negotiations, but in the end there is work to be done, and it's not with the United States,” the anonymous sources told Channel 12. “We need professionals who act quickly, and who react quickly to developments, without wasting time. An understanding of Trump alone is not enough.”