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Defense Minister Gallant says he is ‘unfamiliar’ with ‘one-shot’ deal to free hostages, end war

IDF official Nitzan Alon said Gal Hirsch, who presented the deal to US officials, ‘was never a part of the negotiating team.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Maj.-Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, the IDF official overseeing the issue of captives said they were not familiar with the “one-shot” deal that negotiator Gal Hirsch reportedly submitted to US officials.

Although Hirsch has been described as a negotiator on behalf of the hostages, Alon said he was “never a part of the negotiating team.”

Alon told N12, “The proposal that Gal Hirsch submitted to the US is not known to the negotiating team; Hirsch was never part of the negotiating team.”

Gallant said he was also unfamiliar with the plan.

KAN News reported earlier Thursday that Israeli officials had met with their US counterparts and had agreed to a framework that would see the release of all the hostages at once, an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza, and a safe exit for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and his deputies.

The proposal also includes the release of dangerous Palestinian prisoners from Israeli custody, the demilitarization of Gaza, and the establishment of a new governance system for the region. However, the specifics of these components remain undisclosed.

Read  Hamas rejects proposal that would give them 'safe passage' in exchange for hostages

An Israeli official told KAN, “Due to difficulties in negotiations and the ticking clock regarding the abductees’ lives, we wish to propose a ‘secondary plan’ that would shorten the stages and allow for a faster agreement. This will happen if Sinwar leaves and ends the war. It will also help us achieve the goals of the war while enabling the Hamas leadership in Gaza to leave safely.”

However, the new information that Alon and Gallant were unfamiliar with and not connected with the plan was met with disappointment and outrage from the Hostage and Missing Persons Families Forum, and they called out Gal Hirsch for falsely raising expectations that the plan was approved and going forward.

“Gal Hirsch has once again chosen to carry out a cynical, cheap, and disgraceful manipulation at the expense of the hostages, their families, and the people of Israel. This is a deception aimed at thwarting the new American initiative for the release of the hostages and ending the war in Gaza.”

The Hostage and Missing Persons Families Forum also blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for the lack of a deal and accused him of “abandoning the hostages.”