Israeli minister says only a deal can free captives as rifts split cabinet

Gadi Eizenkot’s comments come amid disagreement in the war cabinet about how to handle the war in Gaza.

A deal will be needed to ensure captives still held in the Gaza Strip are released alive, Israeli war cabinet minister and former military chief Gadi Eizenkot says, adding that a lightning raid would be extremely unlikely to succeed.

Eizenkot, whose youngest son was killed in fighting in Gaza last month, said the fate of the captives should take priority over other war aims, even if that means Israel missing out on an opportunity to take out the political header of Hamas.

Asked if the captives could be released in a rescue mission similar to the 1976 operation in which Israeli commandos freed about 100 hostages in Entebbe, Uganda, he said it was unlikely to happen.

“The hostages are scattered in such a way – even underground – that the likelihood [of such an operation] is extremely low,” Eizenkot told Israel’s Channel 12 programme Uvda late on Thursday.

“We are still making efforts and looking for every opportunity, but the likelihood is low and to say that this is how it will happen is to sow an illusion.”