Families of hostages sent a letter to the War Cabinet, without addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the recipients.
Kan reported that the letter called on the rest of the cabinet ministers not to allow Netanyahu to sabotage a deal for the release of hostages: "The blood of the corpses will be on your hands."
"We, the hostages' families, are turning to you with a demand to clearly and loudly say yes to a deal for the release of hostages," wrote some of the families and added, "Ahead of the convening of the Diplomatic-Security cabinet, we expect you to come out to the public and clearly support the advancement of a deal, and not allow Smotrich and Ben-Gvir to force the Prime Minister to sabotage the deal that is on the table."
They sharply attacked the two ministers: "Unfortunately, ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have forgotten what it means to be Jews, what is the value of redeeming captives, and what is Jewish morality. It is forbidden to allow those who represent an extreme minority to sacrifice 133 kidnapped individuals, as part of a Messianic delusion about returning to the Gush Katif. For months, a despicable incitement campaign has been conducted against us, with the aim of suppressing the cries of the anguished families longing for the return of their loved ones."
"Some of us have experienced physical and verbal violence due to that incitement, but we have reached a critical moment and we cannot remain silent. Therefore, we are turning to you - do not allow Netanyahu to impede the deal. If Netanyahu yields to the extremists and sabotages the deal again, replace him immediately with someone who is capable of returning the State's citizens. There is an overwhelming majority in the Knesset in favor of bringing the kidnapped women and men home," the families' letter stated.