STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
30 July 2025
British hostage families are deeply concerned that hostages have been made a bargaining chip by the UK in its Palestinian State declaration statement
Since October 2023, we have represented the 7 families of the 10 hostages held by Hamas who are either British or have very close British ties, including British citizens Emily Damari (released in February 2025) and Nadav Popplewell (murdered in June 2024). We continue to represent a number of families including those of remaining hostages Avinatan Or, who is presumed alive and whose mother is British, and Yossi Sharabi, whose body is held by Hamas.
For almost two years, the British hostage families have encouraged the U.K. to use any leverage it has to help secure the release of their loved ones. They have sat in 10 Downing Street with successive Prime Ministers and Foreign Secretaries who have looked them in the eyes and promised the U.K. will do everything in its power to secure the immediate and unconditional release of their loved ones, whose detention is unambiguously a war crime.
We are concerned that the UK’s proposal risks delaying the release of the hostages. This is because the UK has said that it will recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel agrees a ceasefire. But the risk is that Hamas will continue to refuse to a ceasefire because if it agrees to one this would make U.K. recognition less likely.
The families are therefore deeply concerned that the U.K.’s approach risks disincentivising Hamas from releasing the hostages. This risks doing exactly what the Prime Minister’s statement says the U.K. will not do: reward Hamas for its heinous and illegal acts.
The British hostage families take no position on the wider politics. Their concern is to bring their loved ones home, and time is fast running out. They therefore implore the Prime Minister to provide clarity and confirm, unambiguously, that Hamas will not be rewarded and that the U.K. will not take any substantive steps until all the hostages are free.
Adam Rose
Adam Wagner KC
Lawyers for British hostage families