Calls for partial deals clash with past demands, raising questions about whether defeatist politicized families of those imprisoned in Gaza are pressuring for victory or surrender. If the latter, they should be shunned. Israel has a war to fight, and win. Opponents of that can bark all they want, but they should be ignored. The caravan moves on.
The anguished voices of families of hostages still held in Gaza command deep sympathy across Israel. Yet their latest public campaign reveals a contradiction that cannot be ignored. At times, these families have insisted that Israel refrain from “partial deals,” demanding only a comprehensive resolution that would bring all hostages home. Now, as reports emerge of a Hamas offer to release just 10 living captives under a 60-day truce, the same activists demand that the government accept it at once—regardless of the strategic consequences.
This inconsistency underscores a deeper problem: hostage families, however well-intentioned, are increasingly politicizing their cause in ways that align less with saving lives and more with pressuring Israel into concessions. The government, meanwhile, has taken a different path—mobilizing 60,000 reserve soldiers, preparing for the invasion of Gaza City under Operation Gideon’s Chariots 2, and receiving clear backing from Washington for the strategy of total victory. The contrast is stark: while the state is girding itself for the decisive battle to eliminate Hamas’s military and political grip, a loud minority calls for halting the campaign mid-stream.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has explained repeatedly that Israel cannot afford a deal that leaves Hamas in power. As he warned, “Any arrangement that keeps Hamas intact is not a ceasefire—it is surrender.” His security cabinet’s approval of the Gaza City invasion reflects this recognition. Victory is defined not by temporary pauses, but by the removal of Hamas from the battlefield and the return of all hostages, living and deceased, through total defeat of the terror organization.
It is therefore troubling that the Hostages and Missing Families Forum has turned itself into a political battering ram, accusing the government of “toiling to decree a death sentence” for hostages and calling a democratically elected cabinet’s war strategy an act of political preservation. Such rhetoric is not only misguided—it risks strengthening Hamas’s hand. Every time Hamas sees Israeli society divided, with public campaigns casting the government as an enemy, it emboldens the terrorists to stall, delay, and increase their demands.
The reality is clear. A limited deal releasing 10 hostages—out of some 52 still in Gaza, only about 20 believed alive—does not achieve Israel’s war aims. Nor does it save the majority still in captivity. Worse, it risks cementing Hamas’s survival, ensuring that future kidnappings will remain a tool of terror. As Defense Minister Israel Katz put it bluntly this week: “We will not stop short of victory. The gates of Gaza City will open to the IDF, and Hamas’s reign will end.”
Israel’s allies understand this logic. President Donald Trump has backed Netanyahu’s stance that no ceasefire should be agreed to unless it ensures Hamas’s destruction. American officials have repeatedly stressed that temporary truces are counterproductive, giving the terror group breathing space while prolonging the suffering of both Israelis and Gazans.
The tragedy of the hostages must not be exploited as a political wedge. Calls to stop the war for a partial deal may come from a place of anguish, but in practice they amount to a call for Israel’s defeat. Hamas thrives on precisely this division—counting on Israeli voices to pressure their own government more than international powers pressure Hamas.
The die is cast. Israel has chosen victory, even at great cost. Reservists are in uniform, brigades are on the move, and the Cabinet has taken its decision. This is not the moment for doubt, division, or contradictory demands. It is the moment for national unity, for clarity of purpose, and for the resolve to win the war.
History will remember not those who second-guessed, but those who saw through the fog of grief and fear to ensure that Hamas was consigned to the dustbin of history.
Dear,
I am one of many who are totally confused.
I agree that two-state solution was a wishful thinking and now is long gone. There is no way we can be neighbors and live in peace with those barbarians who are still living in the dark ages.
On the other hand my heart goes to the families of the hostages and to the families losing their loved ones in this terrible guerilla war.
There will always be different opinions and ways of thinking. This is the nature of democracy. There is only one thing that I would beg you not to repeat: PLEASE DO NOT USE INSULTING WORDS LIKE “BARKING” FOR THE ONES WHO DO NOT THINK OR CANNOT THINK OUR WAY. We are also shouting and screaming to try to justify our way of thinking. So, are we also barking?!!
Thanks and Shabbat Shalom from Istanbul.
Moshe