At a fiery protest in Jerusalem, Yosef Engel, grandfather of released hostage Ofir, accused Prime Minister Netanyahu of abandoning the captives and warned that Israel is losing both the war and the global propaganda battle.
Yosef Engel, whose grandson Ofir was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and later freed, delivered a searing message outside the cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, joining other anguished hostage families demanding action.
“We are doing everything possible to pressure the cabinet to bring our loved ones back,” Engel declared to Israel National News–Arutz Sheva. “But once again, today’s cabinet meeting will end without results—because Netanyahu does not want to.”
In a scathing rebuke, Engel warned that the government’s strategy is pushing Israel into catastrophe.
“The occupation of Gaza City is Israel’s greatest disaster,” he argued. “Our hostages will be murdered, the world will condemn us, and Israel will stand as an international outcast.”
He further claimed that Israel is already on the losing side:
“Hamas is defeating us—not only in the battlefield but in the propaganda war. They are not breaking, they are breaking us.”
His words echoed the mounting fury of hostage families who say time is running out, while the government clings to political maneuvering instead of prioritizing the captives’ safe return.
