{"id":519856,"date":"2026-07-01T11:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T11:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/519856\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T11:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T11:51:16","slug":"disputing-smotrich-ex-hostage-pointman-says-more-captives-could-have-come-home-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/519856\/","title":{"rendered":"Disputing Smotrich, ex-hostage pointman says more captives could have come home alive"},"content":{"rendered":"

The war in Gaza could have ended a year \u201cat least a year earlier,\u201d former hostage pointman Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon said Wednesday, hitting back at Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who claimed<\/a> credit this week for the return of all the captives held by terror groups in the Strip.<\/p>\n

Smotrich voted repeatedly throughout the two-year war against deals that would have seen the hostages released earlier than they ultimately were.<\/p>\n

Alon asserted that some of the hostages who were killed could have come home alive if different decisions had been made.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Gaza, we fought a long war that could have been ended at least a year earlier,\u201d Alon said at the Herzliya Conference at Reichman University. \u201cWhen talking about the return of all the hostages, it should be remembered that around 40 hostages who were abducted alive were killed in captivity, and I do not forget that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn certain cases, with different conduct and decisions, or different negotiations, we might have been able to bring them back alive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTherefore, Minister Smotrich, who opposed some of the agreements at various stages, I do not think can take credit for the return of all the hostages,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tNitzan Alon attends the Herzliya Conference at the Reichman University in Herzliya, July 1, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cabinet and the political leadership refused earlier comprehensive deals in the name of that \u2018total victory,\u2019 which is in fact a falsehood,\u201d Alon added, referring to a slogan repeated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other coalition members during the war.<\/p>\n

Smotrich drew outrage on Sunday for his comments, with former hostage Or Levy accusing him of spreading \u201cgaslighting propaganda\u201d with his claim.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I have a dramatic, even decisive, impact on the war,\u201d Smotrich said in an appearance on Nadav Perry\u2019s \u201cAll In\u201d podcast. \u201cI think that if not for me, the war in Gaza would have been halted even before [the operation] in Rafah,\u201d he added, referring to the offensive launched by the IDF in the southernmost Gaza city in May 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the way,\u201d he continued, \u201cunlike how some are trying to portray me as some heartless person who doesn\u2019t care about the hostages, I think it is thanks to me that all the hostages are here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tReleased hostage Or Levy, whose wife was killed on October 7, reunites with his three-year-old son Almog after 491 days in captivity in Gaza, at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, February 8, 2025. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

To explain his reasoning, Smotrich said that after all but 21 of the living hostages were released in a January 2025 deal with Hamas, another partial deal was proposed that would return another eight living hostages, leaving 12 behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf in this moment I hadn\u2019t set a red line and told [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu that this would not happen\u2026 we would have been holding negotiations with Hamas to this day over another one, and another one, and another one,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n

Despite Smotrich\u2019s claim, had the deal he referenced not collapsed less than two months after it began, in early March 2025, it would have eventually progressed to a second phase that would have included the release of all remaining hostages, both living and dead.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tProtesters at Habima Square in Tel Aviv hold up posters of some of the slain hostages who have not been returned to Israel, October 14, 2025. (Yael Gadot \/ Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)<\/p>\n

Instead, it wouldn\u2019t be until October 2025 that the last 20 living hostages were released followed by the return of the bodies of the deceased. The final body was handed over to Israel on January 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

In total, of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas and other terror groups during the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre in southern Israel, 166 were released alive, and 85 were returned to Israel deceased.<\/p>\n

Of the deceased, 44 were already dead at the time they were abducted, and 41 were abducted alive and killed in captivity. In many cases, they were murdered by their captors, and in others, the military confirmed that its own actions, including airstrikes, led to the deaths of hostages.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA woman holds a sign saying \u2018sorry\u2019 as people pay their respects during the funeral procession of slain hostages Shiri Bibas and her children Ariel and Kfir in Rishon LeZion, February 26, 2025 (Avshalom Sassoni\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Smotrich consistently opposed, or gave only conditional support to, various proposals for hostage deals throughout the two-year war in Gaza, arguing that continuing the military offensive and overthrowing Hamas was more important<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He threatened, on multiple occasions, to pull his far-right Religious Zionism party from the government if a deal was signed that he disapproved of.<\/p>\n

His remarks on Sunday sparked anger from released hostages and their families.<\/p>\n

Levy, who was released in February 2025, accused the finance minister of spreading \u201cgaslighting propaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you mean to say it is thanks to you that hostages were murdered while you torpedoed deals \u2014 then yes,\u201d wrote Levy, whose wife, Eynav Levy<\/a>, was murdered at the Nova music festival on October 7. \u201cIf it were up to you, we wouldn\u2019t have returned to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asserting that the hostages were nothing more than \u201ccollateral damage\u201d as far as Smotrich was concerned, Levy dismissed the Religious Zionism leader as \u201ca shameful minister, a shameful citizen, and a shameful human.\u201d<\/p>\n


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