Austrian missing

Release of hostage: “Leave no stone unturned”

Austria is continuing its efforts to free the Austrian man who has been held captive by the militant Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip for four months. 

"We are leaving no stone unturned. This is an Austrian family man," emphasized Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) on Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, where he met Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani. 

Abducted by Hamas
Contact is also being maintained with Egypt and Israel on the matter. "We don't know where she (the hostage, editor's note) is. We have never received any indication that he should not be alive," said Schallenberg with regard to the Austrian, who was abducted on October 7, 2023 in the course of the Hamas massacres in Israel.

According to previous information, the hostage is the Israeli-Austrian dual citizen Tal Shoham. He was kidnapped with his wife and several children. Unlike him, the other family members, some of whom also have German citizenship, were released.

130 hostages still held by Hamas
Qatar is a mediator in the efforts to bring about a ceasefire in the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas. During the ceasefire, hostages are to be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners for the second time since the war began. Thani also met Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog in Munich. 130 hostages are said to still be held by Hamas.

Alexander Schallenberg is a guest at the Munich Security Conference.(Bild: APA/BMEIA/MICHAEL GRUBER)

Schallenberg praised the efforts of Thani, who has been "strongly behind" the release of the hostages for months. "We want two things," said Schallenberg, "Humanitarian aid should get in (to the Gaza Strip, editor's note), the hostages should get out." A ceasefire is the "logistical and logical prerequisite" for this.

"Don't outweigh one trauma with another trauma"
According to Schallenberg, there is "great fear" among the participants at the Munich Security Conference of a major offensive by Israel in the south of the Gaza Strip. "Israel must make it clearer that they differentiate between the (Palestinian) civilian population and the Hamas terrorists," the Foreign Minister demanded. "This is all too often blurred", he said, adding: "with all due respect for Israel's right to self-defense". No state - not even Israel - is above international law.

On October 7, 2023, Israel had lost the "nimbus of inviolability" that it had possessed since the Yom Kippur War exactly 50 years earlier. However, one should not "outweigh one trauma with another trauma, one injustice with another injustice".

"Very moving"
Schallenberg and his ÖVP party colleague, Minister for Europe Karoline Edtstadler, met relatives of Hamas hostages at the Munich Security Conference. Edtstadler spoke of a "very moving event". The reports of those affected over months without confirmation that the family members were still alive were moving, she said.

Schallenberg plans to travel to the Middle East region in two weeks' time. As he announced in Munich, it will take him to the Egyptian capital Cairo, the Jordanian capital Amman, as well as to the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah and to Israel.