Israeli Minister Ron Dermer: Land Operation Is Accelerating Possibility of Hostage Deal

Ron Dermer
Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg, Amir Levy/Getty Images
Joshua Caplan

Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer said on ABC News Live that he believes that the Israel Defense Force’s (IDF) land operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip is “accelerating our possibility” of securing an agreement to free hostages held captive by the Palestinian terror group.

A transcript is as follows:

IAN PANNELL: There’s been lots of discussions that a large group of hostages was going to be released. We know that Qatar, Egypt, Israel, and America were all trying to get some of those hostages out. What impact has a ground operation had on those negotiations, and what hope can you give to the families that — a realistic expectation that they are going to see their loved ones again?

MINISTER RON DERMER: I can tell you definitively there was no deal on the table before the operation was launched. There was a hope that maybe something would materialize into something, but there was no deal on the table. As I said, the belief of everybody was that the launching of this operation would make it more likely that we would be able to get to a deal or rescue hostages.

PANNELL: But those negotiations are still going on with third parties?

MINISTER DERMER: Yes, they haven’t stopped. I don’t want to talk about the specifics of the negotiations, but I think there are channels that are always open, and we’ll see if it could materialize into something.

PANNELL: But do you think it’s negotiations that are more likely to produce hostages alive and well or the land operation?

MINISTER DERMER: I think the land operation is accelerating our possibility to get a hostage deal and is accelerating a possibility to maybe rescue our hostages.

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