IDF chief says military is applying pressure on Hamas to reach ‘good conditions’ for hostage deal

By Emanuel Fabian

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26 July 2024, 6:51 pm

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Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (center) holds an assessment in southern Gaza's Khan Younis with chief of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman (left) and the commander of the 98th Division, Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfus (left), on July 25, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Speaking to officers in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis yesterday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says the military is working to apply pressure on Hamas to reach “good conditions” for a hostage deal.

“A hostage deal is something we are pressing to reach and bring under good conditions, which is a task of utmost importance. This is a defined war objective; we don’t need it defined for us either. This is a basic moral issue,” he says.

Halevi says the IDF will not stop battling Hamas “until we return the hostages” and “until we dismantle the last battalion, the last company” of the terror group.