The issue of Israeli prisoners detained in the Gaza Strip and the developments of the ground operation continue to surface the Israeli media's attention, as former senior military commanders believed that Israel would be forced to make an exchange deal with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and that this deal would be painful.
Israel's Channel 12 quoted former IDF spokeswoman Ruth Yaron as saying that because of the large number of Hamas prisoners, and even if the operations were successful during the ground invasion, in the end we will have to make an exchange deal with the enemies, which will be painful, and we must all be ready for that.
Amos Malka, former head of the Military Intelligence Division, said that the two goals of the military campaign, namely the destruction of Hamas' capabilities and the repatriation of detainees, cannot be fully achieved, pointing out that if the exchange deal is concluded, it will include a ceasefire, without which Hamas will not accept.
Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of the Military Intelligence Research Division, said that accessing the names of Hamas prisoners is a "very serious" intelligence mission, pointing out that great efforts are being made to obtain any information about detainees in Gaza, and that every move produces echoes that allow obtaining additional information.
For his part, former head of the Operations Division Giora Island believes that Israel faces a challenge that may last for days or weeks, which is full control of northern Gaza and the bombing and demolition of everything in it, calling for studying the possibility of expanding the operation towards the south and not being dragged into an early ceasefire, because achieving this without returning detainees would be very bad for Israel.