2024-09-02 18:48:36
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant today called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a truce deal with the Palestinian group Hamas for the return home of the remaining hostages held in Gaza after the bodies of six of them were returned to their relatives, Reuters reported.
“It is too late for the abductees who were killed in cold blood. The abductees who remain captive to Hamas must be returned home,” he said on the X social network.
“The National Security Council must meet immediately and reverse the decision taken on Thursday,” he said, referring to the government’s decision to insist on keeping troops in the so-called Philadelphia Corridor, along Gaza’s southern border.
Netanyahu’s insistence on keeping troops in the corridor to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons from Egypt is seen as one of the main obstacles to the success of talks led by Egypt and Qatar.
Gallant has repeatedly clashed with Netanyahu and hardline religious nationalist ministers over the need to reach a deal to end the fighting in Gaza and return the remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
About a third of the nearly 100 Israeli and foreign hostages still in Gaza are believed to have died, with the fate of the rest unknown.