Responding to Dermer, Lapid says ‘the hostages will die’ if war continues for another year

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid responds to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer’s comment that the war will be over in a year, saying that waiting that long will lead to the deaths of all the remaining hostages held in Gaza.

“Let’s just remember what the price is: The hostages will die. If we wait another year, we will receive 59 bodies,” Lapid tells Radio 103FM.

Dermer said yesterday that a year from now, “the seven-front war that began on October 7 will be over. Israel will have won.”

Lapid says there are two conditions required for the war to end — drafting of all those eligible to serve in the IDF, and a decision on who will replace Hamas as ruler of Gaza.

“Everyone must be mobilized. There are not enough soldiers. The government encourages evasion and refusal [of the Haredi community to serve in the army],” he tells the radio outlet, according to the Walla news site.

“You did not define a goal for the war. Who will replace Hamas?” he says, apparently addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government.