{"id":91319,"date":"2026-01-25T12:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=91319"},"modified":"2026-01-25T12:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:06:09","slug":"family-of-last-hostage-urges-witkoff-kushner-to-pressure-hamas-not-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/family-of-last-hostage-urges-witkoff-kushner-to-pressure-hamas-not-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of last hostage urges Witkoff, Kushner to pressure Hamas, not Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By JNS STAFF<\/p>\n<p>(<em>JNS.org<\/em>) \u2013 The family of the last deceased hostage held in Gaza raised concerns on Saturday following the news that U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Board of Peace member Jared Kushner were to arrive in Israel later in the day and reportedly pressure Jerusalem into opening the Strip\u2019s Rafah Crossing to Egypt, despite Hamas\u2019s failure to retrieve the body of Border Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_91320\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/F251011CG049-1320x880-1.webp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-91320\" class=\"wp-image-91320 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/F251011CG049-1320x880-1-300x200.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/F251011CG049-1320x880-1-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/F251011CG049-1320x880-1-1024x683.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/F251011CG049-1320x880-1-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/F251011CG049-1320x880-1.webp 1320w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-91320\" class=\"wp-image-91320 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/F251011CG049-1320x880-1-300x200.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/F251011CG049-1320x880-1-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/F251011CG049-1320x880-1-1024x683.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/F251011CG049-1320x880-1-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/F251011CG049-1320x880-1.webp 1320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-91320\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff (left) and Jared Kushner at a rally at \u201cHostage Square\u201d in Tel Aviv, Oct. 11, 2025. Photo by Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>U.S. President Donald Trump \u201chimself said this week in Davos that Hamas knows where our son is. We wonder why the pressure is being directed at the wrong place?\u201d Gvili\u2019s family was cited as saying by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an organization formed after the Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The forum has said in a statement that the goal of Witkoff\u2019s and Kushner\u2019s visit is to ensure the opening of the Sinai-Gaza border.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe pressure should not be on the Israeli government to continue fulfilling its part of the deal while Hamas deceives the entire world and refuses to return the last hostage in accordance with the agreement it signed,\u201d Gvili\u2019s family continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe call on the prime minister of Israel to address the esteemed American envoys and say that anyone who wants to advance the reconstruction of Gaza and peace in the Middle East would do well to focus their efforts first and foremost on bringing Rani home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The terms of the ceasefire stipulate that its second phase, which includes the disarmament of Gaza\u2019s terrorist groups along with the territory\u2019s reconstruction, will commence only after all hostages, alive and dead, return to Israel. The truce took force on Oct. 10, after which all the remaining abductees returned home, except for the remains of Border Police volunteer Gvili.<\/p>\n<p>However, Witkoff declared last week the start of Phase 2 of Trump\u2019s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, followed by the unveiling of the Board of Peace in Davos, Switzerland. The global body, chaired by Trump, was initially formed to oversee the terms of the truce as they are being implemented in the Gaza Strip, as well as reconstruction efforts.<\/p>\n<p>The Hostages Forum on Friday said it will hold rallies across Israel on Saturday evening to urge decisionmakers to progress toward peace efforts only after the body of Gvili returns home.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces said that the Air Force struck and eliminated Palestinian terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip earlier in the day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIDF troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip identified several terrorists who crossed the Yellow Line, planted an explosive device in the area and approached troops, posing an immediate threat to them,\u201d the IDF Spokesperson\u2019s Unit said.<\/p>\n<p>The IAF struck back following the identification. \u201cIDF troops in the Southern Command remain deployed in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat,\u201d the army added.<\/p>\n<p>Israeli forces hold about 54% of the Gaza Strip, deployed east of the so-called Yellow Line, which runs through the Palestinian territory. Phase 2 of the ceasefire agreement involves the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops on the condition that Gaza\u2019s terrorist organizations lay down their arms.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Family%20of%20last%20hostage%20urges%20Witkoff%2C%20Kushner%20to%20pressure%20Hamas%2C%20not%20Israel\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":91320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,27,25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91319"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91321,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91319\/revisions\/91321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}