B’nai B’rith President Seth J. Riklin and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith International is relieved by the reported impending release of some 50 of the nearly 240 hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, even as it demands the return of every remaining Israeli and international captive.

The ordeal of these innocents—including infants, children and the elderly—has been unthinkable, and similarly the suffering of their loved ones. These victims of Iran-sponsored Palestinian terrorism will need wide-ranging care to heal from the profound physical and psychological wounds of their experience, which has also again traumatized Israeli society as a whole. The barbarism of those committed to violent, perennial jihad in the Middle East knows no bounds.

All those involved in enabling this hostage release must remain duty-bound to ensure the swift, unconditional release of all the remaining hostages held in atrocious conditions by Hamas and its collaborators. No less, determined efforts will have to continue to disarm and defeat those fanatic forces openly, officially committed to Israel’s destruction and to the brutal death of Jews. In the interest of lasting peace and stability for all people in the region, there can be no return to the status quo on Oct. 6, before Hamas plotted new levels of atrocity in the Jewish state.