Politics Israel's defense minister demands quick hostage deal
Following the discovery of the bodies of six hostages in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant has called for an immediate meeting of the security cabinet. The cabinet must reverse the decision to maintain control of the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, Galant wrote on X. The decision is seen as an obstacle to an agreement with the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas on the release of hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners.
01.09.2024, 09:30
SDA
"It comes too late for the hostages who were murdered in cold blood," Galant wrote. "We must bring home the hostages who are still in Hamas captivity." He emphasized that Israel would "settle the score with all Hamas leaders and murderers, to the last of them".
The Israeli army had previously announced that the bodies of six hostages had been recovered in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. They had been killed shortly beforehand by their kidnappers.
On Friday night, the security cabinet decided to keep Israeli troops in the so-called Philadelphi Corridor in the south of the Gaza Strip. Israel's demand for permanent control of the approximately 14-kilometre-long strip is one of the main points of contention in the indirect negotiations on a ceasefire with Hamas.
According to Israel, a number of Hamas tunnels run under the corridor. Netanyahu is insisting on controls to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza. Egypt denies the existence of underground smuggling routes.
According to media reports, there was a heated argument between Netanyahu and Galant at the cabinet meeting. Galant accused Netanyahu of putting the deployment of soldiers on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt above the liberation of Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip. He could just as well "decide to kill all the hostages", Galant is reported to have said, among other things.
