Ben Gvir, the Minister of National of Security of Israel, a member of the far-right political party, expressed his concern about a possible agreement with Hamas to secure the release of hostages taken during the attacks in October. He indicated that he and Israel are being left out of any potential talks and that they are not being given the truth. This may lead to a similar mistake to that of the 2011 Shalit agreement.
Ben Gvir has vocalized his opposition to an agreement that could entail releasing Palestinian prisoners and allowing fuel to enter the Gaza Strip. He believes this would contribute to Hamas’ arming. Meanwhile, the mother of two minors kidnapped by Hamas in October has urged Israeli authorities to move forward with the agreement to secure the release of her children.
On Monday, relatives of the kidnapped hostages cautioned that a proposed bill to apply the death penalty to people convicted of terrorism was putting the hostages in serious danger. They claimed that the timing for this proposal was not appropriate.
The attacks by Hamas that occurred in Israel resulted in nearly 1,200 deaths and over 240 kidnappings. Conversely, authorities in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, reported that more than 13,300 Palestinians were killed in Israeli bombings. Additionally, over 200 Palestinians have died due to Israeli forces or settler attacks in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.