Rifts Split Cabinet: Israeli Minister Says Only A Deal Can Free Captives

A deal will be needed to ensure captives still held in the Gaza Strip are released alive, Israeli war cabinet Minister and former Military Chief Gadi Eizenkot says, adding that a lightning raid would be extremely unlikely to succeed.

Eizenkot, whose youngest son was killed in fighting in Gaza last month, said the fate of the captives should take priority over other war aims, even if that means Israel missing out on an opportunity to take out the political header of Hamas.

Asked if the captives could be released in a rescue mission similar to the 1976 operation in which Israeli commandos freed about 100 hostages in Entebbe, Uganda, he said it was unlikely to happen.

“The hostages are scattered in such a way –even underground that the likelihood [of such an operation] is extremely low,” Eizenkot told Israel’s Channel 12 programme Uvda.

“We are still making efforts and looking for every opportunity, but the likelihood is low and to say that this is how it will happen is to sow an illusion.”

Israel estimated that about 130 captives remain in Gaza and 27 have died in captivity. More than 100 captives seized during Hamas’s cross-border attack into southern Israel on October 7 were freed during a week-long November truce.

“I think it is necessary to say boldly that it is impossible to bring the hostages back alive in the near future without a deal,” Eizenkot said in the interview.

But he added that the broader war aims would “still be valid” after any temporary ceasefire.

At least 24,762 people have been killed in Israel’s air, ground and sea offensive in Gaza. The revised death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.

ALJAJAZEERA