{"id":6703,"date":"2026-10-02T22:02:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T22:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=6703"},"modified":"2026-10-02T22:02:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T22:02:26","slug":"israel-couldve-ended-gaza-war-freed-captives-sooner-israel-ex-negotiator-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=6703","title":{"rendered":"Israel could\u2019ve ended Gaza war, freed captives sooner: Israel ex-negotiator | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Retired General Nitzan Alon says more captives could have been returned alive and a deal was possible \u2018maybe a year earlier\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Published On 2 Oct 2026<\/span>2 Oct 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A former Israeli general who was the army\u2019s point person for hostage negotiations at the beginning of the Gaza war says that a deal to return all Israeli captives could have been achieved \u201cmuch earlier\u201d than October 2025 but it was prolonged unnecessarily.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we could [have gotten to] this point much earlier, maybe a year earlier or so, without any major implication on the other strategic goals of the war,\u201d Major General Nitzan Alon said on Friday. \u201cWe missed it, actually. The war was too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He was speaking during a Washington Institute for Near East Policy webcast marking three years since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel preceding the genocidal war that has killed over 74,000 Palestinians.<\/p>\n

Alon referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s claim that Israel must achieve \u201ctotal victory<\/a>\u201d before signing a deal as \u201cfalse\u201d.<\/p>\n

He called the October 2025<\/a> \u201cceasefire\u201d a \u201cstrategic achievement\u201d that has since curbed Hamas\u2019s military power. But he said it could have been secured much sooner with \u201cmaybe some hostages that got killed or murdered during their captivity [coming] back home alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamas and Israel carried out a prisoner exchange deal in October 2025<\/a> under a ceasefire agreement that saw the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails and 20 Israeli captives held in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could have \u2013 and we should have \u2013 shortened the war, brought all the hostages back, maybe a year earlier, and moved forward and maybe, you know, saved thousands of lives on both sides,\u201d Alon told the panel discussion organised by the United States think-tank.<\/p>\n

Alon had made similar comments in July, when he also criticised Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, saying Smotrich had opposed some of the agreements put forward at various stages and therefore could not take credit for the return of all the captives.<\/p>\n

\u2018Not just a missed opportunity, it\u2019s tragic\u2019<\/h2>\n

Speaking to Al Jazeera on Friday, former Israeli diplomat Alan Pinkas said Netanyahu had stalled the end of the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cA deal was possible very soon after the Hamas attack in October 2023,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took almost two years before the hostages were returned, so it\u2019s not just a missed opportunity, it\u2019s tragic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani\u00a0said Israeli officials \u201crejected to entertain the idea\u201d of a Hamas proposal to release all captives in exchange for a limited ceasefire soon after the attacks.<\/p>\n

Al-Thani said Doha reached out to Israeli officials \u201con day one \u2026 Our message was very clear. They [Hamas leaders] are asking for a window of ceasefire to get the civilians out,\u201d Sheikh Mohammed said in an interview<\/a> with Piers Morgan. \u201cAnd basically, they [the Israelis] were not interested to engage in the idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alon\u2019s latest comments come less than a month before Israel\u2019s October 27 legislative election, with polls showing the political battle remains at knife-edge.<\/p>\n

Pinkas said Alon\u2019s comments were unlikely to influence the outcome of the vote as polls already \u201creflect public anger\u201d over the Netanyahu government\u2019s failure to prevent the Hamas attacks.<\/p>\n

A report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz claiming that United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan\u00a0had warned Netanyahu about a possible attack<\/a> also sparked outrage across Israel last month.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu said he would sue the outlet over its report, which he described as \u201cfabricated\u201d and \u201cfalse\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Retired General Nitzan Alon says more captives could have been returned alive and a deal was possible \u2018maybe a year earlier\u2019. Published On 2 Oct 20262 Oct 2026 A former Israeli general who was the army\u2019s point person for hostage negotiations at the beginning of the Gaza war says that a deal to return all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t