Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has told family members of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza that there’s no chance of a deal to free their relatives.
“There’s stagnation, and I don’t see progress right now in this period, I’m very sorry to say,” Gallant said in a meeting with the hostage families on Monday, according to The Times of Israel.
On Wednesday, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who has mediated the negotiations, said there have been no talks for the past three or four weeks.
“On the prospects of the negotiation … basically in the last three to four weeks, there is no conversation or engagement at all, and we are just moving in the same circle with the silence from all parties,” al-Thani said.
Gallant blamed the lack of a deal on Hamas, but Israeli officials and media outlets widely acknowledged during the last round of negotiations that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was purposely sabotaging the chances of an agreement.
Haaretz reported on Wednesday that top members of Israel’s General Staff have no doubts that Netanyahu has decided to abandon the hostages. There are said to be 97 Israeli hostages in the tunnels of Gaza, but only about half are believed to be alive.
Gallant claimed that if there were an opportunity for a deal that would link Lebanon and Gaza, Israel would take it. But throughout the past year, Hezbollah has made clear it would end attacks on northern Israel if there were a ceasefire in Gaza, and Israeli officials never pursued the possibility.
Gallant told the hostage families that he thought Sinwar was watching the escalations in Lebanon and the tensions between Israel and Iran, hoping for a regional war. But Israeli escalations have led to the current situation in the region, and Netanyahu appears to be seeking a major war that would involve the US.
