From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
Netanyahu: Still haven’t decided on law limiting price Israel can pay for hostages
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleLazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is in discussions about enacting a law based on the recommendations of the 2008 Shamgar Committee drastically limiting the price Israel pays for hostages.
“I haven’t brought it to the cabinet,” he says in a moment of openness. “I want to think about it. It’s a very complex question, very difficult. It’s not a given.”
“The law needs to serve real life, not life serving the law,” he says.
His government, he continues, needs to decide what limitations they want to place on themselves for future hostage deals.
“My immediate instinct is to say yes, but I want to think about its various aspects, in a very realistic and responsible way,” he says.
Israel released some 4,000 jailed Palestinian terrorists, security prisoners, Gazan terror suspects detained during the war, along with the bodies of Palestinian terrorists, in exchange for the Israeli hostages returned by Hamas. In 2011, a Netanyahu-led government freed 1,027 Palestinian security prisoners, including Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7, 2023, invasion, in exchange for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
The Times of Israel Community.