Israeli media wondered about the fate of the war in the Gaza Strip and the possibility of concluding a prisoner exchange deal, after the ceasefire agreement reached between Hezbollah and Israel.
The former Israeli government coordinator in the West Bank, Reserve Major General Eitan Dengote, described the statements of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir that he was “not ready to release Alef Sinwar” as “shocking.”
Ben Gvir refers to the prisoner exchange deal that Israel concluded with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), under which more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.
Yahya Al-Sinwar – who is described as the commander of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle – was among the Palestinian prisoners released under the Shalit deal, and later arrived to head the political bureau of Hamas before his martyrdom in mid-October.
Dengote described Ben Gvir as either a person suffering from a mental problem or an extremist person, blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because he is the one who gives him the freedom.
In turn, former Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot believes that the Israeli government, in its current composition, will not take a decision to recover the detained prisoners and pay the required price.
Eisenkot – a former minister in the War Council – pointed out that there were public goals for the war on the Gaza Strip and other secret goals, which were imposing military rule and restoring settlement there, considering it a “tragedy for Israeli society.”
Meir Cohen, a member of the Knesset from the “There is a Future” party, called for the necessity of restoring the Israeli prisoners in Gaza, and shifting all the weight to the south (the Gaza front) after stopping the war with Lebanon in the north.
On October 7, 2023, the Al-Qassam Brigades – the military wing of the Hamas movement – carried out a major attack on bases, barracks and settlements around the Gaza Strip, killing hundreds of Israeli soldiers and officers.
The Qassams also captured at least 240 Israelis, more than a hundred of whom were released during a temporary humanitarian truce in November 2023, while dozens of prisoners held in Gaza were killed due to Israeli raids that have been ongoing for more than a year.