‘Not enough’: Friend of released Israelis wants more hostages freed

(NewsNation) — A family friend of two Israeli women released by Hamas on Monday is happy for their release but wants to see the release of more hostages, including her grandparents.

“It’s not enough,” Ofir Metzger said Monday on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.” “I feel like it’s a game that Hamas is playing with us, like trying to make the world think that they are so nice and they are so humanitarian because they (released) two women out of almost 300 people, maybe more.”

Israeli officials said Monday at least 222 people are believed to have been taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed more than 1,400 people.

The two released by Hamas on Monday are Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85. Their husbands remain in captivity.

Metzger said Lifshitz taught her father in school, and Cooper worked with her grandfather in a paint factory in the kibbutz of Nir Oz, from which they were taken.

“This kibbutz was living for long years in good neighborhood with Gaza, and … we were surprised to get these attacks because like the rest of the world, we knew who Hamas was, but we never thought that they will get to actions like ISIS, but they did,” Metzger said.

She remains hopeful about the fate of her own grandparents , believed to be among the hostages in Gaza.

“They told us a few days ago that they found their phones inside Gaza, but they didn’t find bodies,” Metzger said. “I want my grandparents back.”