“Military pressure is killing the kidnappers. We fear that our sons will also return dead like the six who were executed,” the father of one of the hostages told the military officials, referring to six hostages. Israel They were killed by Hamas as the army was about to liberate them.
He added: “We are not prepared for the Israeli army to approach the area where our sons are being held.”
Another father of a hostage soldier told Halevi: “You are my son’s commander. You are putting my son in danger. If there is a possibility of getting him out in a deal, he must be protected. We are not interested in rescue operations. We and our sons will not live in peace if soldiers die in a rescue operation. We do not want another Arnon Zamora,” referring to an Israeli soldier killed during an operation in Gaza to free four Israeli hostages.
Channel 12 reported that the hostages’ parents explained to the chief of staff that “the moral responsibility for the fate of their sons lies with him,” and told him: “You are the commander. You are the one who put them into battle.”
“We can always fight back,” Halevi replied. agitation“Returning the kidnapped will become more difficult over time and it is not certain that anyone will return. I also said this on the political level. As long as an agreement is not reached regarding the kidnapped, we will work to return as many of them as possible.”
“However, we will not be able to bring them all. We will do our utmost to try to bring back as many as possible. We are making great efforts to find out where the kidnapped are and we are also taking risks to bring intelligence information in a responsible manner,” the IDF Chief of Staff continued.
“As for the end of the war, I don’t know when. We are not close to the end. I think that if we do not fight and pressure Hamas, it will take time and it will be very difficult to get the hostages back,” Halevi added.
He considered that “the agreement to return the hostages is a government decision. We are doing everything to provide the best conditions. This is our responsibility towards your children, and we are working in every way to bring them back.”
Pressure on Netanyahu
- Thousands of people demonstrated in the streets of major cities in Israel on Saturday in an attempt to increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure a deal to release hostages held in Gaza.
- Of the 251 people abducted during Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel, 97 are still being held in the Gaza Strip, 33 of whom the Israeli military says have been killed.
- The weekly demonstrations aim to maintain pressure on the Israeli government, which opponents accuse of stalling on reaching a deal to release the remaining hostages.
- Protest organizers said crowds grew this month after Israeli authorities announced the recovery of the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in southern Gaza.
- Thousands took part in demonstrations in Tel Aviv and outside the Knesset building in Jerusalem.
- Facing government Netanyahu Growing anger from its opponents, who accuse it of not doing enough to secure a truce agreement that would allow for the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
- The vast majority of the hostages freed so far were released during a one-week truce in November, and since then Israeli forces have been able to rescue only eight living hostages.
