The opposition indicated dwindling hope for the return of those detained by the resistance (Al Jazeera)
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich admitted to the families of those detained by the resistance in the Gaza Strip that he could not promise to return all the prisoners alive, while Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid indicated “dwindling hope for the return of the prisoners.”
The Israel Today newspaper quoted Smotrich as saying that he pledged that he would do everything to return the prisoners, “according to my discretion and what my conscience dictates to me, and in a way that serves the possibility of returning them, but primarily serves Israel’s interest.”
He added, "In my estimation, what is happening to manage this war is correct, and there is a clear policy that we will follow until the end, and we are prepared to pay prices for that, including political prices."
Israel is sad
On the other hand, the Israeli opposition leader said that the return of the kidnapped people would take place through what he described as a bad and terrible deal, but Israel was forced into it.
Lapid added, in a speech before the Knesset, that the priority is to recover the kidnapped persons whom he said Israel had abandoned.
The Israeli opposition leader also considered that both Ministers Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot are blundering over the issue of withdrawing from the emergency government.
Lapid said that the current political system in Israel is the problem, not the solution, noting that he has never seen Israel as sad as today, with "the loss of more soldiers and the diminishing hope of the return of the prisoners."
Israeli women's organizations organized protest events in the cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv (Anadolu Agency)
Demonstrations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
A movement formed by Israeli women's groups and organizations organized protest activities in the cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to demand action to reach an exchange and return deal for Israeli prisoners held by resistance factions in Gaza, at a time when disagreements are escalating within the government in this regard.
A sit-in tent was set up at the headquarters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and participants raised slogans demanding the completion of an immediate exchange deal before time runs out, as they put it.
Netanyahu had said that Israel would not submit to what he called “bloody terrorism,” and stressed in his speech before the Knesset that Israel must win.
As for the Minister in the Israeli war government, Benny Gantz, he said that returning the kidnapped people alive is very important, and that their return is not only a priority, but rather a moral duty for the state, stressing that this does not contradict the mission of destroying the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
Gantz added in his speech that every place where there are those he described as terrorists will be the second target for Israel, and that it has more operations ahead of it.
Source: Al Jazeera