Concessions needed to free Gaza hostages, Israel’s defense minister says

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned Sunday that “painful concessions” would be needed to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza and that military action alone will not achieve the country’s war aims.

“Not all objectives can be achieved through military operations alone… to realize our moral duty to bring our hostages home, we will have to make painful concessions,” Gallant said, in a speech marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year.

Gallant went on to name the country’s military accomplishments in over a year of fighting.

“In the south, Hamas has ceased to act as a military structure, in the north, Hezbollah continues to suffer blows and its leadership has been eliminated, the majority of its rocket arsenal has been destroyed and its forces have retreated from the border line,” he added.

Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

At least 42,924 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have since been killed in the Israeli offensive on Gaza, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.

The war has also drawn in Iran-backed groups across the region, most notably Hezbollah in Lebanon, where Israel has launched a major aerial campaign and ground incursions since late September.