The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum headquarters on Wednesday evening published a statement that included harsh criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The statement followed a report on Channel 13 News which said that Netanyahu refused to send the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, to Qatar in order to renew negotiations for the release of hostages being held by Hamas.
"The families were shocked by the report of the rejection of the request of the head of the Mossad to draw up an agreement for the release of the hostages. This announcement joins the ignoring of mothers' requests to meet with the Prime Minister, and fathers' requests to meet with the Minister of Defense, which have so far not been answered," the statement said.
The headquarters also added that "the families request an urgent update, in light of the complete stagnation in the negotiations for the release of the hostages, while the feeling is that every evening there is a Russian roulette in which the families are informed about the murder of hostages in captivity."
The Channel 13 report claimed that, in a discussion that took place in recent days, a proposal was made by the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, to travel to Qatar together with Major General Nitzan Alon, who is leading the intelligence efforts in the field of prisoners and missing persons, in order to negotiate a new hostage deal. However, the report claimed, the War Cabinet, headed by Netanyahu, decided against holding such a trip.