When the opportunity came to us in mid-October 2023 to try to use our legal skills to help the hostages who had UK connections, we immediately said yes.
In the end, there were a total of 10 hostages who were either British or were very closely connected to the UK, and we have been acting for all of their families. (Being "closely connected" a formula adopted by the UK Government, to mean that the hostage has a parent, a spouse, or a child who is a British citizen.)
What have we been doing? Having ultimately (by late November 2023) convinced the UK Government to provide consular support for all of these families, we have continued to advocate for their immediate and unconditional release. We have brought family delegations to the UK to meet with two prime ministers, three foreign secretaries, Qatari negotiators (in London and Doha) and ambassadors. We have held large events in Parliament, and run press conferences for the families at our London office.
As we wait to see what happens next, we have joined in with the joy and the tears of seeing two of "our" hostages – Emily Damari (British) and Eli Sharabi (closely connected) – released alive during "Phase 1". But we have also witnessed Oded Lifshitz's body returned for burial - as we have said on many occasions to the UK Government, that is what failure looks like.
It has been a huge privilege to act for these British hostage families; there are still (as I write this) three hostages who are closely connected to the UK, being held - Avinatan Or, Yossi Sharabi and Shay Levinson - all of whom for whom we continue to work, and for whose families the torture of not knowing with absolute certainty if they are dead or alive continues, and who cannot yet hug or bury their loved one.