Israeli captives’ families to boycott 7 Oct memorial as ceasefire talks stall

Families of Israeli captives held in Gaza plan to boycott the anniversary memorial being held to mark a year since they were taken in a surprise Hamas attack on 7 October, due to mounting frustration at the Netanyahu government's stalling of ceasefire talks.

"The Israeli government’s glaring inability to secure the hostages’ return makes any attempt to conclude this chapter impossible," a group representing the families, called Hostage Families Forum (HFF), said in a statement on Wednesday.

The group added that since 7 October, "the situation has remained stagnant".

The Israeli government is set to hold a formal memorial on 7 October, marking one year since the surprise Hamas led attack on Israel.

Israel’s transport minister, Miri Regev, who is also part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, has been appointed to organise the event.

The HFF described the attack as "the greatest disaster in Israel’s history", highlighting that 109 captives still remain in the besieged enclave.

They added that they would instead be joining communities near the Gaza border and southern Israel to mark a year since 7 October.

Families of the captives have been left frustrated as talks to bring captives back and agree on a ceasefire deal continue to stall and drag on despite mediators US, Egypt and Qatar making efforts to agree on a truce deal.

The families have repeatedly accused Netanyahu of failing to agree on a deal and abandoning the captives in an effort to save his political career.

Meanwhile, far-right ministers in his cabinet have threatened to collapse the government if he agrees to end the war.

Israel's indiscriminate war on the Gaza Strip has completely devastated the enclave, destroying residential areas, schools, and hospitals and killing over 40,000 people.

Calls for investigation

The HFF have also called into an investigation to look into the failures that led to the 7 October attack.

A number of Israeli kibbutzes have announced they will also be boycotting the state memorial, including the ones that were attacked.

Some of them will be holding their own ceremonies, while others have said they were "disappointed" by the government’s plans to hold the memorial while captives remain in Gaza.

They have called on the government to focus their efforts instead on bringing the captives back rather than planning an event.

On Wednesday, Kibbutz Be’eri said the government needs to focus "on the lives of the hostages in Gaza, not on the life of a man who abandoned them to die".

The event has also caused controversy among Israeli officials, with the former war cabinet member, Benny Gantz, saying it should be members of the affected communities holding the event, rather than Regev.

"The nature of this day must be determined by those who endured the inferno: the residents of the Western Negev settlements, the hostages and their families, the families of the fallen, and the wounded," Gantz wrote on X.

He called on the government to "reconsider and do what is right".