By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

“Did you see how many kidnapped people we brought back? They did not even thank us,” Sara Netanyahu was quoted as saying. 

Sara Netanyahu, the wife of the Israeli prime minister, sparked outrage among the Israeli captives who were returned from Gaza following the prisoner exchange deal with the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas.

According to a report published by Israeli Channel 12, the premier’s wife complained  in a private conversation with an Israeli lawmaker that she and her husband had not yet been thanked for returning some of the captured Israelis.

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“Did you see how many kidnapped people we brought back? They did not even thank us,” Sara Netanyahu was quoted as saying. 

Following the publication of the report, several liberated captives took on social media to express their outrage. 

According to The Times of Israel, 18-year-old Liam Orr, who was captured in Gaza and returned as part of the exchange deal, wrote on Instagram: “Sorry, I was captured.” 

Yigil Yaakov, who also returned from Gaza as part of the exchange deal, reportedly responded to the post saying: “I’m sorry I was kidnapped, next time I will pay for a vacation in Gaza.”

Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denied that the premier’s wife, who participated in a number of meetings with the families of Israeli captives in Gaza, has made such comments.

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The office said in a statement that the report “contains lies and far-fetched fabrications,” the Times of Israel reported. 

Relatives of Israelis who are currently being held in Gaza have staged numerous protests demanding a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas. 

Demonstrators blame the prime minister for the security failures leading to the Hamas military operation on October 7, as well as for his handling of the war in Gaza.

Gaza Genocide

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7. 

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 32,070 Palestinians have been killed, and 74,298 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip. 

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Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’ 

(The Palestine Chronicle)