The families of two fallen IDF soldiers, whose bodies have been held by Hamas in Gaza since Operation Protective Edge in 2014, voiced disappointment Sunday after meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing the meeting as "difficult."
Amid reported contact between Israel and Hamas via Egyptian mediation as part of efforts to strike a cease-fire agreement in Gaza, Leah and Simcha Goldin, the parents of Lt. Hadar Goldin, together with Zehava and Ofek Shaul, the mother and brother of Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, met with Netanyahu for an update on the talks.
The Oron and Shaul families have consistently demanded that Israel apply pressure on Hamas to prompt the Islamist group to return the boys' bodies for burial in Israel. The last time the prime minister met with the families was five months ago.
Also in attendance at Sunday's meeting were the prime minister's military secretary Brig. Gen. Avi Balut, the coordinator of negotiations to bring back Israeli captives and bodies, Yaron Blum, and Foreign Ministry Director General Yuval Rotem.
"The prime minister continues to capitulate to Hamas' dictates and refuses to set clear conditions on Hamas that Gaza's rehabilitation will only happen after our boys are returned," Goldin's parents said after the meeting.
"Our son Hadar was abducted and taken into the tunnel in Rafah during a cease-fire. Now, four years after the abduction, Netanyahu isn't demanding the boys' return and is agreeing to another cease-fire, which Hamas can also violate whenever it chooses," they said.
"Aside from vague statements and hollow words for the purpose of public relations, Netanyahu still hasn't done anything significant to bring our sons home," they said. "We left the meeting today with a difficult feeling that behind the prime minister's claims he and his government are doing everything to bring Hadar home is a somber reality, and in reality nothing has actually been done."
Speaking to Channel 13, Zehava Shaul said, "We went in [to the meeting] with a lot of hope and we left a little disappointed because we didn't receive a definitive message that Oron would return home in the near future."
"We've been waiting quietly for four years," she added. "I think enough is enough, the prime minister needs to understand that the time has come to bring the soldiers home."
Officials in the Prime Minister's Office said Netanyahu had decided to avoid a confrontation with the families.
"The prime minister told the families that there would be no agreement on Gaza without a stipulation for the boys' return," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement following the meeting.
