TEL AVIV, Sept 10: Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant offered his support for a hostage release agreement in the first phase of a Gaza truce deal, saying it would give Israel a "strategic opportunity" to address other security challenges.
Bringing the hostages home is "the right thing to do", Gallant told foreign journalists.
"Achieving an agreement is also a strategic opportunity that gives us a high chance to change the security situation on all fronts," he said.
Israel, which has been at war with Palestinian militants in Gaza since Hamas's October 7 attack, is also engaged in near-daily clashes with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement on its northern border with Lebanon.
Urging the international community to keep up the pressure on Hamas to reach an agreement, Gallant said he firmly supported the first stage of a three-phase ceasefire deal announced by US President Joe Biden on May 31, hoping to build on it for an eventual end to the war.
"Israel should achieve an agreement that will bring about a pause for six weeks and bring back hostages," Gallant told journalists at a sit-down on Monday at his office. His remarks were released for publication on Tuesday.
Gallant also said Hamas's military capabilities had been severely damaged after more than 11 months of war and that it no longer existed as a military formation in Gaza.
"Hamas as a military formation no longer exists. Hamas is engaged in guerrilla warfare and we are still fighting Hamas terrorists and pursuing Hamas leadership," he said.
His comments came as mediators the United States, Qatar and Egypt struggle to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,000 people.
Gallant is among the Israeli officials who have clashed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on war policy.
Israeli media last month quoted him as privately telling a parliamentary committee that a hostage release deal "is stalling... in part because of Israel".
Netanyahu's office accused Gallant of adopting an "anti-Israel narrative".
Gallant said Israel's military pressure in Gaza had created the "necessary conditions" for a ceasefire deal.
Biden unveiled a three-phase plan that would see an initial six-week halt in fighting and the release of hostages by Hamas in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
One of the biggest stumbling blocks has been Netanyahu's insistence on maintaining troops along Gaza's border with Egypt, in a strip of land known as the Philadelphi Corridor.
Netanyahu said last week that retaining control of the corridor was important to stop any arms smuggling into Gaza from Egypt.
Hamas is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Gallant's latest comments come as domestic pressure mounts on Netanyahu to end the war. —AFP
