Defense Minister Gallant Urges Israeli PM To Complete Ceasefire Agreement To Repeat Hostages In Gaza

(ki-ka) Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (Source: GPO/Kobi Gideon)

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to finalize a ceasefire agreement with Hamas to take home the remaining hostages from the Gaza Strip, when six bodies kidnapped in the October attack were repatriated.

"It's too late for the kidnapping victims who were brutally murdered. The kidnapping victims who are still missing Hamas must be sent home," he said on social media platform X.

"Political-security cabinets must immediately convene and overturn the decision made on Thursday," he said, referring to the cabinet's decision to insist on defending troops in the so-called Philadelphia corridor, along Gaza's southern edge.

On Sunday, PM Netanyahu said Israel was committed to finalizing a hostage-taking deal. However, he blamed Hamas for refusing to accept an approved proposal with the United States.

He said the killings of six hostages, shortly before they were found by Israeli forces in a tunnel under the southern Gaza city of Rafah, indicated Hamas was not interested in stopping fighting.

"Whoever killed the hostages was not interested in the deal," he said in a statement after the return of the bodies of the six hostages.

PM Netanyahu's persistence in defending troops in the corridor to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons from Egypt is widely seen as one of the main obstacles to the agreement with Hamas in talks brokered by Egypt and Qatar.

Israeli media reported that Defense Minister Gallant faced PM Netanyahu angrily during a cabinet meeting over the Philadelphia corridor issue on Thursday last week, warning time was running out for a hostage-taking deal.

It is known that Defense Minister Gallant has repeatedly clashed with PM Netanyahu and the hardline nationalist minister regarding the need to reach an agreement to stop fighting in Gaza and bring back the remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel.

About a third of the 101 Israeli and foreign prisoners who are still in Gaza are believed to have died, while the rest's fate is unknown.

It is known that about 1,200 people were killed and 250 others arrested as hostages, as a result of an attack by a militant group led by Hamas into Israel's southern region on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli calculations.

That was in response to Israeli land and air operations. Health authorities in Gaza announced on Sunday that the death toll of Palestinians since the latest conflict broke out had reached 40,738 people, while injured victims reached 94,154 people, as quoted by Xinhua.