Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant: Updates on the Hostage Crisis in Gaza

2023-10-29 21:39:07
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant during a conference with government and Knesset officials (Israeli Ministry of Defense)

This Sunday, the Israeli Army raised to 239 the number of people kidnapped and held in the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas following the attacks once morest Israeli territory on the 7th, in which more than 1,400 people also died.

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In a press appearance, the Israeli military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, stated that “there are 239 kidnapped people, including civilians who are foreign workers, whose identity is difficult for us to determine and therefore be able to communicate with their families.” The last number of kidnapped people provided by Israel was 230, as reported yesterday, Saturday, by the Army.

“We continue efforts to collect information and update it. The number of missing people continues to decrease and is now 14, whose whereregardings are unknown at the moment,” Hagari added.

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Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant accused the terrorists of playing “psychological games” with the hostages, following offering to release all the captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

“The stories published by Hamas are part of their psychological games […]. Hamas is cynically using our loved ones: they understand the pain and pressure,” he told relatives of some of the 239 hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to a statement released by his office.

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On Saturday, Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar declared that the Palestinian militant group was open to an “immediate” prisoner exchange with Israel.

Gallant said the military campaign inside Gaza was also aimed at securing the release of the hostages.

“They seek the collapse of Israeli society from within and are using the hostages brutally,” he said.

“The military operation aims, among other things, to increase the possibilities of return of our people.”

So far, the terrorist group has freed four hostages.

Several people hold photos of missing people and hostages believed to have been kidnapped by Hamas (REUTERS/Hadas Parush)

Gallant’s words are in line with those spoken by Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who during a meeting with the families of the 229 hostages on Saturday conveyed to them that Israel will “exhaust all possibilities” to achieve their return.

According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, in the meeting Netanyahu stressed that the release of the hostages is the main objective of the war with Hamas.

“The key is the level of pressure,” said the prime minister, who stressed that “the greater the pressure, the greater the possibilities” of releasing them.

Hamas terrorist group frees two Israeli hostages

The families of the hostages had made an urgent appeal to meet with Netanyahu and also with Gallant, given the growing fears for the safety of their loved ones due to the increase in the ground operation carried out by Israel in Gaza.

For his part, in a message recorded on video and broadcast on the X (formerly Twitter) account of the Israel Defense Forces, the Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, stated that “bringing the hostages home is a supreme national effort”, and “everything possible” will be done to carry it out successfully.

Likewise, Halevi acknowledged that the ongoing operation “is going to be complex and presents risks, because victory has a price.”

“To destroy the enemy there is no other solution than to forcefully enter their territory,” he stressed.

An Israeli tank maneuvers and explosions are seen inside the Gaza Strip, this Sunday (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

Israel continued to intensify the ground offensive in Gaza this Sunday by sending new troops, and following already attacking more than 450 targets of Hamas, which de facto governs the Strip and whose militiamen fought Israeli troops today in strong clashes in the north of the enclave.

This Sunday was the twenty-third day of the war between terrorists and Israel, which broke out on October 7 following the surprise attack by Hamas in Israeli territory that resulted in the death of more than 1,400 people and the capture of 239 hostages, according to the figure updated today by the Israeli military spokesman.

Although it seems that the ground offensive is being gradual and the Israeli authorities have not used that term for the moment, but instead spoke of “expansion of ground activities”, the truth is that more and more troops are arriving in Gaza, where they are already fighting. combats on the ground, although they still do not seem of great intensity.

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