JERUSALEM

Several families of Israeli hostages who are being held in the Gaza Strip said Friday that they have lost trust in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in seeking the return of the captives.

Israeli public broadcaster KAN cited the families who stressed they would carry out their own initiatives.

They, however, did not specify what that would that would look like.

KAN quoted one family who said: "Any delay in the negotiations will put their lives (Israeli captives in Gaza) in danger."

Meanwhile, KAN reported that dozens of families headed late Friday to Netanyahu's home in Caesarea in northern Israel, to pressure him for the release of the captives.

The former head of the Mossad intelligence agency, Tamir Pardo, joined calls of former security officials who are demanding the government take steps to release the captives.

He told KAN that ending the war against Gaza with the captives killed means Israel loses for the first time. He also stressed the need to correct the approach of the government in abandoning its citizens.

Israel estimates that Hamas has been holding 136 Israelis in Gaza since Oct. 7. The Palestinian resistance group demands a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons in exchange for releasing Israeli prisoners in its custody.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas which Tel Aviv said killed 1,200 people.

At least 24,762 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 62,108 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar