CNN
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The father of an American hostage being held by Hamas in Gaza criticized the deadly attack in Lebanon in which pagers and walkie-talkies exploded, killing dozens, saying: “These pagers, this seemingly impossible act, is like treating pain with more pain.”
“This cycle of violence has got to stop,” Addie Alexander, whose son, Edan Alexander, is in custody, said in an interview on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”
Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack, but CNN reported that Tuesday’s operation was a joint operation between the Israel Defense Forces and Mossad.
Alexander met with Tapper, along with the families of Americans held captive by the terrorist group, on Wednesday, approaching the one-year anniversary of the brutal Hamas attack on Oct. 7. As things stand, the chances of a deal to release the hostages and end the fighting in Gaza seem slim.
Instead, the conflict appears to be escalating: Israel launched airstrikes on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon on Thursday, and on Wednesday Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said a “new era of warfare” had begun.
On ceasefire talks, Alexander called on President Joe Biden to “consult closely” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to “stop moving the goalposts and stop undermining your own negotiating team.”
“This discussion needs to take place as soon as possible,” he added.
Netanyahu is due to visit New York next week to attend the United Nations General Assembly, but sources told CNN he is unlikely to meet with Biden.
Biden has previously suggested Netanyahu is prolonging the conflict for his own political survival.
Iris Weinstein Hagai, whose parents were murdered on Oct. 7, said the U.S. government needs to do more.
“It is completely unacceptable that we are not doing everything we can to urge all countries and the international community to pressure Hamas and release these rotting innocent hostages,” Weinstein Hagai said.
Several of the hostages’ families are in Washington this week, less than three weeks after the Oct. 7 attack. They met with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday and “expressed frustration with the lack of concrete progress” in ceasefire talks, a summary of the meeting said.
Their visit came weeks after Israeli forces discovered the bodies of six hostages, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, in a Hamas-controlled tunnel in the Gaza Strip. Days before Goldberg-Polin’s death was confirmed, his parents had spoken at the Democratic National Convention calling for their son’s return.
Omer Neutra’s father, Ronen Neutra, said Wednesday he was “horrified” by Goldberg-Polin’s death.
“Where’s the anger? Americans have been killed and yet we have people on the streets of New York cheering for Hamas, the same organization that killed Americans,” he said. “Where’s the anger in that regard?”
“When it comes to Prime Minister Netanyahu, unfortunately I don’t think I have high hopes for him,” Neutra added. “What he says outside of Israel in front of the American people is not consistent with what he says inside Israel.”
Jonathan Dekel Chen, the father of another American hostage, Sagui Dekel Chen, said hopes for a breakthrough in negotiations were “low.”
“Israelis have stopped listening to Prime Minister Netanyahu because there is a clear gap between his promises to bring the hostages home and his actual actions,” Dekel Chen added.
“It is clear, at least to me, that he is coming to the UN for Israeli consumption,” he said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone in the UN General Assembly will hear what he has to say there.”
“It is completely unacceptable that we are not doing everything we can to urge all countries and the international community to put pressure on Hamas and release these rotting innocent hostages,” he said.
CNN’s Eugenia Yosef and Arlette Saenz contributed.