Gallant Admits Israeli Prisoners’ Release Won’t be Achieved by Force

November 7, 2024
in News, Gaza


DayofPal– Newly fired Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant disclosed Thursday that Israel will pay a heavy price if it remains in Gaza and it’s not good for it to do this, admitting that “there is no body or group in Israel discussing the release of Israeli prisoners as the only decision-maker is Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Making his remarks before the families of Israeli prisoners held in Gaza, Gallant added, “I don’t know if it is possible to influence him [Netanyahu] into a ceasefire. I tried and failed. I was isolated in the cabinet, and both the head of the Shin Bet, the Chief of Staff, and the head of the Mossad agreed with me on the necessity of reaching a deal.”

“As for Netanyahu’s considerations, they are neither security nor political,” he confirmed, revealing that the Chief of Staff also agrees with this point despite that Netanyahu claimed ‘It’s a political issue.’

Gallant also clarified that “At the beginning of July, Hamas agreed to a prisoner swap deal, and the conditions have been favorable since then. But until now, we’ve been in disagreement about whether it is ripe or not. I believed, and still believe, that we should be prepared to make a prisoner exchange deal and withdraw from the Philadelphia Corridor.”

Gallant said that “only at the end of July did Israel respond to Hamas’s proposal with a counterproposal that we knew would not be accepted. I said at that time: if you want to pass a proposal that you know won’t be accepted, you should have passed it on July 4. Why wait three weeks?”

Gallant further explained to the families of the Israeli prisoners that “there are issues that cannot be achieved through power, and the prisoner swap deal must be reached.”

The statements of Gallant was made after Israeli PM Netanyahu had fired him following months of clashes over domestic politics and Israel’s war efforts.

In a televised statement, Gallant said his dismissal was the result of a dispute over three things: the issue of ultra-Orthodox military service, the abandonment of hostages in Gaza, and the need for an official inquiry into Hamas’ October 7 operation.

In a recorded statement Tuesday evening, Netanyahu said that “trust between me and the minister of defense has cracked,” replacing Gallant with Israel Katz, former foreign minister.

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