Minister says he won’t support a partial hostage release deal

Minister David Amsalem says he will not support a truce deal with Hamas that does not free all hostages, saying doing a deal in stages, as current proposals support, will worsen chances for civilian men and soldiers left behind.

“I will vote no. It’s not moral, not ethical and not right,” he tells Army Radio, noting that he made his position clear during a cabinet meeting the night before..

“You can’t divide the deals,” Amsalem says. “There needs to be only one deal. Those not included in a first deal, it’s safe to assume, [their freedom] will be pushed much further away.”

“You don’t bring 40 people and leave the rest in the same situation,” he adds, saying those not included will be in a deeper crisis.

He notes that Israel will also find it harder to negotiate for the freedom of just soldiers, as it will lose some measure of the moral upper hand in the eyes of others.

“The world won’t call them hostages. They’ll be POWs,” he says.

Amsalem also accuses the IDF spokesperson of lying about the withdrawal of troops from everywhere in Gaza but a corridor running through the center of the Strip.

“It is a lie,” he says. “We have many forces inside Gaza fighting on a daily basis.”