President Isaac Herzog met with his Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Christodoulides, where they discussed, among other issues, the situation of hostages held in Gaza by Palestinian terrorist organizations.
For Herzog, this is a “top priority” issue and he hopes the captives will return to Israel as soon as possible, Christodoulides told him.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that on Tuesday they recovered the bodies of Israeli Bedouin hostage Yosef Al-Zayadni and his son Hamza, after finding them in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area, in the southern Gaza Strip.
With this discovery, of the 251 kidnapped during the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, there are now 94 left in the enclave, at least 34 of them confirmed dead by Israel.
“Thank you, President, for your strong friendship and for the warm and productive conversation we had,” Herzog wrote on his X account.
The Israeli leader also wished to thank his counterpart for the “partnership and cooperation” that both countries share, which he said are “vital pillars of stability, security and hope in our region.”
Cyprus is one of Israel's allied countries. Good relations between the two countries have been built up over the past decades, especially when Benjamin Netanyahu visited the island in 2012, becoming the first Israeli prime minister to do so.
Agencies contributed to this Aurora article