Hostage families to Southern Command head: Your priorities put captives’ lives at risk

Southern Command chief Yaniv Asor said the first mission was to destroy Hamas and the second was to bring back the hostages – both those alive and dead.

By EVE YOUNG MARCH 13, 2025 21:43

Demonstrators protest for the release of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip, outside Hakirya Base in Tel Aviv, March 5, 2025. (photo credit: TOMER NEUBERG/FLASH90)

Hostage families harshly criticized incoming Southern Command chief Yaniv Asor after he appeared to prioritize dismantling Hamas over bringing back the hostages.

At the ceremony on Wednesday in which Asor entered his new position, he said he “solemnly accept[s] the sacred duty of commanding the Southern Command and wish[es] to outline two missions, both of which, simultaneously, form the compass guiding the path to victory.”

He said the first mission was to destroy Hamas and the second was to bring back the hostages – both those alive and dead.

“It’s the other way around, commander,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said. “Let every Jewish mother know that she has entrusted the fate of her sons to commanders who are worthy of it. She must also know that the State of Israel and the IDF commanders will do everything to bring back her sons who were kidnapped while defending the country’s borders, dancing at a music festival, or sleeping in their pajamas at home.”

The forum called Asor’s statement serious and irresponsible, adding that “if these are indeed the priorities, the hostages’ lives are at risk, as is the ability to bring the fallen to a proper burial.

Israelis demonstrate for the return of all remaining hostages in captivity in Gaza, March 8, 2025. (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI)

'First the hostages, then Hamas'

“The first and most moral and ethical mission under your responsibility is to bring back the 59 hostages who have been languishing in Hamas captivity in Gaza for 523 days. After that – topple Hamas’s rule,” it added. “First the hostages, then Hamas.”

Yehuda Cohen, whose son, IDF gunner Nimrod, is being held alive in Hamas captivity, called the statement horrible.“My son is a soldier. He was in the Southern Command. He was there with a broken tank,” Cohen said.

“It seems that for [Asor], it is more important to be loyal to [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu than to his responsibility as a senior commander in the area where my son was taken hostage because of all of the negligence of the army.”

Cohen speculated that the measure of whether someone should get a senior position in Israel today is how loyal they will be to Netanyahu’s demands.

He added that the families of the soldiers held hostage have asked for individual meetings with the IDF chief of staff and have not yet been given an answer.

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Maya Cohen/Maariv contributed to this report.