During the release of the hostages last night (Saturday), a serious drama unfolded in the process behind the scenes in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Hamas sent a message to Israel via Qatar that they were unable to locate Hilla Rotem Shoshani's mother - Raya, and Mia Regev's brother - Itay.
Therefore, the terrorist organization proposed to release older women from captivity instead of Mia and Hilla in order not to separate families, as it was published here on the 11th.
Israel refused Hamas' offer and demanded that it locate the missing. In the end, the efforts failed, and the political leaders approved the release of Hilla without her mother and Mia without her brother. This is despite the fact that this is against the principle established in the agreement according to which families and children are not separated from their parents.
An Israeli official said: "We are working with great determination to get Raya back, and we will not rest until we get her back as quickly as possible. The same is true for Itay. These are moments of excitement and a ray of light, but the mission is not complete and our hearts and all our efforts are with the families of the hostages." Therefore, despite Israel's attempts to release 15 captives yesterday and not 13 - the efforts failed.
As a reminder, 21-year-old Mia and 13-year-old Hilla were released yesterday as part of the 13 Israelis who were released in the second round of the hostage deal with Hamas. Mia and her 18-year-old brother Itay were kidnapped from the party in Ra'i, where they arrived a day after returning from a trip to Mexico. The family learned that they had been kidnapped to Gaza from a video in which Itay was seen being loaded into a van by the terrorists.
Raya, Hilla's mother, managed to escape from their house in Kibbutz Be'eri and hid in a bush - where she was discovered by the terrorists. That Saturday, at 12:05, Raya had time to write to her brother that she and Hilla had been kidnapped, this was the last communication with them.