Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant addresses the Israeli press from Tel Aviv’s IDF headquarters, October 26, 2023. (Elad Malka/Defense Ministry).
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met earlier with family members of hostages being held by terrorists in Gaza and stressed that military pressure on Hamas is more likely to win the captives’ release than a grand prisoner exchange, arguing the terror group is not really interested in the latter solution.
“If there is no military pressure on Hamas, nothing will progress,” Gallant said, according to a statement from the Defense Ministry.
He was the latest senior Israeli official to meet representatives of captives’ families, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a similar meeting on Saturday.
“The stories published by Hamas are part of their psychological games … Hamas is cynically using those who are dear to us — they understand the pain and the pressure,” Gallant told relatives of some of the 239 hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to the statement.
According to a recording from the meeting broadcast by Channel 12, Gallant told the families that an “everybody for everybody” prisoner swap (all Israeli hostages for all Hamas prisoners) is not doable.
“If it were that simple [to do a swap] then it would not be a problem,” Gallant said. “If those were the terms it would happen tomorrow morning. Those aren’t the terms.”
No further details were available. Channel 12 noted that some parts of the recording were not approved for publication by the military censorship.
At the meeting, some family members assailed Gallant, blaming him and the government for the Hamas attack and kidnappings that occurred under their watch and demanding they not “forsake” the hostages.