Jason Greenblatt, the US Special Representative for International Negotiations, recently sent a letter to the UN in which he asked the body to continue the efforts to release the Israeli soldiers and civilians being held by Hamas in Gaza, Channel 12 News reported on Monday.
Greenblatt wrote in his letter that he recently met with Leah and Simcha Goldin, the parents of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin whose body has been held by Hamas since Operation Protective Edge in 2014, and added, “This week marks the fifth anniversary of the terrible pain they are living with, being unable to give their son a proper burial.”
Greenblatt also attacked Hamas' reprehensible behavior and said that this behaviour should be mentioned whenever discussions about the goings on in the Middle East are held.
He further called on the UN Secretary General to take advantage of the United Nations General Assembly this month to raise the issue at meetings he holds with various world leaders and create pressure to bring back the missing Israelis.
Leah and Simcha Goldin last week met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York.
During the meeting, they demanded that the Secretary-General take it upon himself to implement UN Resolution 2474 which states that prisoners and missing persons should be returned as the first step to any agreement governing a ceasefire.
Leah Goldin said after the meeting, "We have reached an absurd situation in which the United Nations and the international community want to bring the soldiers and civilians back more than Prime Minister Netanyahu does. Our feeling is that the whole world is working to free Hadar, Oron [Shaul], Avera [Mengistu] and Hisham [al-Sayed]. Everyone except the Israeli government."
"The whole world is mobilizing to the mission. The United Nations and governments active in the Middle East are offering us ways to bring the boys back and, on the flip side, international officials we have met with over the past two days have confirmed to us that the Israeli government does not place any conditions on Hamas for bringing back the boys," Goldin added.