Opposition leader in Israel, Yair Lapid, said on Sunday evening, October 5, 2023, that “Israel is no longer a safe place, is not a moral state or a regional power, and has not won the war unless it returns the kidnapped,” declaring his support for an exchange deal with Hamas to release the prisoners it has held. Whatever its size.

This came during his visit to the protest tent set up by the families of Hamas prisoners in Tel Aviv, where she said: “We will support any deal, regardless of its implications and repercussions.”

Lapid indicated that he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that "the opposition will support every step, every deal, no matter how far-reaching, and that the main important thing is the return of the kidnapped."

While the opposition gives importance to the return of the prisoners who were detained by the resistance during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood at the dawn of October 7, the government led by Netanyahu believes that the priority is to defeat Hamas and destroy Gaza, even if that is at the expense of the Israeli prisoners.

The prisoners were killed by bombing

On Saturday, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), announced that more than 60 of its prisoners were missing due to Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Al-Qassam spokesman Abu Ubaida said that 23 bodies of Israeli prisoners were still missing under the rubble.

He also added in a post on Telegram: “It seems that we will never be able to reach it due to the continued brutal aggression of the occupation against Gaza.”

Israelis demonstrate almost daily to pressure the government to take the necessary measures to release prisoners detained in Gaza, but Saturday's demonstration appeared to be the largest.

For his part, the Israeli "Walla" website said that Gal Hirsch, who is responsible for dealing with the issue of Hamas prisoners, was met upon his arrival at the people's demonstration in Tel Aviv Square with chants of "Shame, shame", and received severe criticism because of the government's behavior regarding... By releasing the prisoners.

There are at least 242 Israelis who were captured by Hamas on October 7, during an attack it carried out on the “Gaza envelope” area. It also killed more than 1,538 Israelis and wounded 5,431, according to official Israeli sources.

While since October 7, the Israeli army has killed 9,488 Palestinians, including 3,900 children and 2,509 women, and injured more than 24,000 people. 145 Palestinians were killed, and about 2,040 were arrested in the West Bank, according to official Palestinian sources.