Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came under fire on Sunday after referring to Hamas hostage Omri Miran as simply “the Hungarian hostage” in a post on X about his visit to Budapest and meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

In a since-deleted post on his Hebrew X account, Netanyahu wrote that during his trip to Budapest, he discussed with Orban Hungary’s decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, the joint production of armaments, and the 59 hostages in Gaza.

“We, of course, spoke about the Hungarian hostage and about other important issues for the State of Israel,” the premier wrote, without mentioning Miran, a dual Hungarian-Israeli citizen, by name.

The statement sparked immediate outrage, including from the 47-year-old’s wife Lishay Miran, who responded to Netanyahu’s post, pointing out to the premier that, “Two Hungarian hostages are being held in the Strip, the late Ilan Weiss and my husband, Omri Miran.”

“Omri will mark his 48th birthday in captivity this coming Friday. Our daughters, Roni and Alma, have been waiting for his return for 548 days,” she continued. “I hope you haven’t forgotten his name, and that you haven’t forgotten that he and 58 other hostages are waiting for you to bring them home.”

Omri was taken captive on October 7, 2023, from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, by Hamas terrorists who drove him across the border to Gaza in his own car.

His wife and two daughters were left behind.

Netanyahu’s statement prompted additional disapproval from Omri’s loved ones, as well as his hometown community.

“The ‘Hungarian hostage’ has a name. His name is Omri Miran,” Nahal Oz members fumed. “He also has a wife, Lishay Miran Lavi, and two daughters—Roni, 3 and a half years old, and Alma, who celebrated her second birthday just last week.”

They said that they were informing him, “just so you know, before you casually tweet ‘the Hungarian hostage,’ as if bringing him back isn’t supposed to be a top national priority.”

Speaking to Ynet, Omri’s father Dani Miran, said that “‘the Hungarian hostage’ is our Omri — Omri Miran of Nahal Oz.  He has a wife and two daughters. One of them celebrated her birthday just yesterday. If the prime minister had asked us, we would’ve told him all this.”

He told the news outlet that the way the premier spoke about his hostage son, “the lack of acknowledgment of Omri, without even basic preparation, without writing or saying his name — is painful and deeply upsetting.”

“He doesn’t know him, but he wants to give the impression that he does,” Dani asserted. “It’s one man. One hostage. How can you not even know who you’re talking about?”

According to Dani, Omri’s family was invited by the prime minister to join him on his trip to Hungary, but turned him down after their one condition, “that we could meet with Prime Minister Orban as well,” went unanswered.

“We didn’t receive a response, and it wasn’t arranged—so we didn’t join. We didn’t want to come just for show,” he said.

The post was removed from the official Prime Minister of Israel’s Hebrew language X account following the outpouring of anger, and Netanyahu spoke with Lishay Miran from aboard the Wing of Zion state plane on Sunday evening, as he traveled from Budapest to Washington for a meeting with US President Donald Trump.

During the call, Netanyahu told Lishay that he had mentioned Omri numerous times throughout his visit to Budapest, which ended Sunday morning.

In a statement following the call, the Prime Minister’s Office said the premier discussed Omri’s plight in meetings with both the prime minister and president of Hungary, as well as in additional meetings held to promote the return of the hostages.

The premier also requested Orban’s involvement in returning the body of hostage Ilan Weiss for burial in Israel, the PMO added.

“The prime minister added that he will continue to act tirelessly for the return of all our hostages – both the living and the fallen – while raising the issue in the global consciousness during every diplomatic visit,” wrote Netanyahu’s office.

In addition to the PMO’s statement, Netanyahu wrote in a series of English posts on X that he had departed Hungary for the US “at the invitation of [US] President [Donald] Trump,” to discuss “The hostages, achieving victory in Gaza and the tariff regime that has been imposed on Israel.

“I hope that I will be able to help on this issue. That is the intention,” he wrote.

“I would like to convey my personal support to the families of the hostages who again endured psychological warfare propaganda,” he continued, referring to a propaganda video released by Hamas on Saturday featuring hostages Bar Kupershtein and Maxim Herkin, in the first sign of life from both men since they were abducted on October 7, 2023.

“We are thinking about their loved ones. We are working, at this moment, to bring about their release. With G-d’s help, we will do so and we will succeed,” continued the prime minister.

At the same time as Omri’s family fumed over Netanyahu’s failure to mention him by name, his brother Nadav Miran had a different message for him.

In a Ynet interview on Sunday morning, Nadav, who is a member of the hawkish Tikvah Forum hostages’ families group, which supports intensifying military pressure as a means to recover the hostages, called on the prime minister to increase fighting in Gaza.

“It feels like we’re not doing enough in Gaza. We need to slam the gas pedal,” he said. “The Prime Minister is flying to the US to deal with other state matters—not everything is about the hostages. He doesn’t have to be physically here to give the order to enter Gaza with force and create the pressure needed on Hamas.”

Israel resumed intensive military operations throughout the Gaza Strip on March 18, shattering a fragile two-month-old ceasefire, during which Hamas released 30 living hostages and the bodies of eight slain Israeli captives. Fifty-nine captives remain in Gaza, of whom 24 are still believed to be alive.

Nadav said that while he understands “the desire to rescue as many hostages as possible without a tough military operation that could endanger those still in captivity,” he opposes any further deals involving phased hostage releases.

Any plan under which more hostages would be freed would have to see “all of the [hostages] back in a single deal,” he said.

“The prime minister isn’t making the decision to fight in Gaza like he promised—to bend Hamas,” continued Nadav. “This endangers their lives more than combat would. So I’m calling on the prime minister—if you’ve concluded that this can only be done through military force, then go for it. Take action and apply pressure in every possible way.”

While Nadav acknowledged that “Being in a place targeted by the IDF’s Air Force and soldiers is not pleasant,” for the remaining living hostages, he said that Israel “needs to understand that what made the first deal possible, in which women and children were freed, was an extremely tough siege on Gaza and sustained military pressure on Hamas.”

Netanyahu’s last-minute trip to Washington — which is expected to last until Tuesday, though Channel 12 reported that it may be extended — was only announced on Saturday and was reportedly planned following a three-way conversation between Netanyahu, Trump, and Hungary’s Orban.

The trip, while in part aimed at reversing, or reducing, Trump’s newly-imposed 17% tariffs on Israeli goods, was also scheduled amid concerns related to the war against Hamas in Gaza and the collapse of the ceasefire and hostage release deal last month.

According to Channel 12, Israel fears that the US is “losing interest” in the hostage issue. As such, it hopes that meetings in Washington with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff can lead to the revival of stalled negotiations.

Backed by Witkoff, Israel has sought to extend the first phase of the now-collapsed ceasefire deal and secure the release of more living hostages, rather than enter the second phase of the deal, under which Israel would be obligated to end the war.

Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.