TV report: Gallant tells hostage families to meet urgently with PM, since deal can and should be done

15 July 2024, 9:08 pm

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Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (right) meets security officials at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, July 13, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/ Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told relatives of IDF observation soldiers held hostage by Hamas at a meeting earlier today that a hostage-truce deal is closer than it has ever been and that the security establishment sees no insurmountable security obstacles to it, Channel 12 reports.

He reportedly advised the families to schedule a meeting in the next few days with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make sure the opportunity is not missed.

“When a deal was not possible, I told you,” the report, which it says is based on multiple sources, quotes Gallant as saying. “Now it is [possible], so I’m telling you: it’s closer than it has ever been. There is complete unanimity in the defense establishment — the IDF, the Shin Bet and the Mossad — that there is no insurmountable security obstacle to the deal from their point of view.”

Gallant reportedly went on: “The matter is not parked with us [in the defense establishment]. It is critical to move ahead with decisions in the near future. It’s important to finalize the processes in the coming days, before the prime minister’s trip to Washington or in the course of his visit. After that, it will be much more difficult and complicated.”

Netanyahu heads to the US next week, to address a joint session of Congress and for talks at the White House with President Joe Biden.

The families reportedly asked Gallant how exactly they should proceed, and whether Netanyahu is sabotaging the deal.

The defense minister, in response, reportedly said: “You should arrange a meeting with the prime minister before he flies to the US. He’s the one who decides.”

Clockwise, from top left: Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, Agam Berger and Liri Albag, who were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)

In response to the report, Gallant’s office says that he holds frequent meetings to update families of hostages, but does not comment on the reported content of such meetings and is unhappy when material is leaked from them.

A source in the Prime Minister’s Office says that to secure the release of the hostages, pressure must be increased on Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and not on Netanyahu.