Yossi Schneider, whose cousin Shiri Bibas is being held hostage by Hamas together with her husband and two sons, voiced criticism against Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and National Unity Party Chairman Benny Gantz who claimed that the family was no longer alive.
"As far as I'm concerned, the only statement that said that they are not alive was Hamas', as long as the state or military doesn't have any other proof, they are alive. We fully believe that they are alive. I don't think that out of all the children and everyone, they were the ones to be killed," Schneider said in an interview with Radio 103FM.
He added: " I assume Hamas also had an interest in protecting them since they were very famous at the beginning. We are acting and living like they are alive. All of those headlines that were said by Lapid and Gantz, to me, they were looking for headlines. They want to sound smart and knowledgeable, but unless they know some that we don't, they are totally alive.
"Unfortunately, we get messages from different 'amazing' citizens in Israel who tell us that they are already dead, so why are we making an effort, that we are just looking for notoriety and stuff like that, and they already met their fate. Unfortunately, they're keyboard warriors. Some of them are Knesset members and ministers, but we just ignore it all."
According to him, "Gantz said what he said, Lapid said what he said. We know that people live in some sort of paradigm that they are not alive. You can see this in comments on different websites. We continue forward with full force. We know that they are alive, that is our belief. Until we hear something else, and I hope we won't hear something else. they are alive, and we will do everything to bring them back."