Ministers under fire from the families of Brits held hostage in Gaza

MINISTERS insisted today they were working “around the clock” to free British nationals held in Gaza as they came under stinging criticism from relatives angry at a lack of information.

- Jitendra Joshi

Another round of hostage releases last night raised hopes that the truce between Israel and Hamas, now on its sixth day, could be extended beyond its scheduled expiry today following weeks of war in Gaza sparked by the Palestinian militants’ murderous rampage of October 7.

British-Israeli man Noam Sagi was reunited with his 75-year-old mother Ada after she was taken through Egypt to get to Israeli territory.

The 53-year-old Londoner spoke out about the “psychological terror” of waiting for his elderly mother to be freed, describing her as the daughter of Holocaust survivors and a peace activist whose community in Israel “fought all their lives for good neighbouring relationships”.

But others remain behind in captivity including Eli Sharabi and his brother Yossi. Eli’s wife Lianne, who grew up in Bristol, and their teenage daughters Noiya and Yahel were murdered by Hamas last month.