Dermer says any swap deal to free hostages would need approval of full government

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer says that any prisoner swap deal for hostages being held in Gaza would have to be approved by the wider government.

Speaking to a press conference of foreign reporters, Dermer responds to a question about a potential deal similar to that seen in 2011, when IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was swapped for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners after five years in captivity.

“Those decisions are actually not made by the war cabinet. They’d be have to be brought to the security cabinet and then I believe the full government would have to vote on whatever decision is made,” says Dermer.

The minister, considered a close confidant of Netanyahu and an observer on the war cabinet, says that Israel’s focus is on its “military objectives… and one of the goals of the operation is to bring back those hostages.”

Dermer says that “if there’s a potential deal that can be made, that would be brought to the appropriate forum in Israel.”