Hostage deal gives Hamas more incentive to kidnap Israelis, says Israeli minister

Ben Gvir: “Give the order to crush Hamas completely.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir strongly criticized the negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal on Thursday, claiming that such an agreement would be “reckless” and would encourage Hamas to kidnap more Israelis.

On Thursday, he said, “Every step forward in these negotiations increases Hamas’s incentive to kidnap more Israelis,” he added. “Last night, that policy cost the life of an IDF soldier.” He urged Netanyahu to immediately halt all negotiations and prioritize the safety of soldiers and civilians in southern Israel. “Give the order to crush Hamas completely,” he demanded.

The remarks followed the death of Master Sgt. Avraham Azulay, who was killed during an attempted abduction by Hamas terrorists in southern Gaza. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Hamas operatives emerged from a tunnel and tried to drag Azulay from his armored engineering vehicle during an operation to dismantle terror infrastructure. Azulay resisted but was fatally shot. Nearby IDF troops responded quickly, killing several of the attackers and preventing the abduction.

The incident has intensified debate within the Israeli government over the direction of its military and political strategy in Gaza, with some ministers pushing for a total military victory over any form of negotiated resolution.

Ben Gvir said, “Enough of negotiating with a murderous terror organization and pursuing a deal that will strengthen and sustain it,” he stated.

“The lives of our soldiers and the residents of the South are more important than any normalization and economic agreements,” Ben Gvir added. “Give the order to crush Hamas to the end. We do not have unnecessary soldiers to lose in reckless deals,” he concluded.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich expressed outrage at the potential deal and called it a “betrayal” of IDF soldiers.

He said, “If, God forbid, the reports are true about the Prime Minister’s willingness to withdraw as part of a hostage deal from areas that our soldiers conquered at great cost, this would be a severe betrayal of the soldiers and the families who sacrificed what is most precious to them, and a violation of the promise we made to them.”

“To withdraw from areas that were conquered again and again with the blood of our fighters and to allow the enemy to enter them, arm themselves, and booby-trap them, and then to send our fighters to conquer them again, is an illogical and immoral slap in the face,” he claimed.