Families of Israeli captives deny leaking Netanyahu Qatar tape

Following lengthy negotiations led by Qatar and the United States, more than 100 of those captured were freed in December during a seven-day truce.[Ahmad Gharabli/ AFP]

Families of Israelis held captive in Gaza have said denied they were behind the leak of audio in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised Qatar’s role in talks with Hamas over the release of the captives.

“All conversations that take place in meetings with the Prime Minister are recorded by his office and his associates present at the meeting,” Haim Rubinstein, a spokesperson for the families, said on Thursday in a statement cited on Israeli media.