Today (Wednesday), Opposition Leader MK Yair Lapid addressed the government’s decision to approve the hostage deal.
According to Lapid, “we give backing to the agreed parameters, the State of Israel has a supreme duty to continue to work to return all the hostages home to the last of them. We embrace and support the families of the hostages.”
This comes in response to the government’s decision last night (between Tuesday and Wednesday), at the end of a prolonged meeting, decided to approve the deal with Hamas for freeing some of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip. Now it will be possible to appeal to the Supreme Court against the deal before its implementation, with the first hostages expected to be freed on Thursday.
President Herzog welcomed the deal: “This is a moral and ethical duty that correctly expresses the Jewish and Israeli value of securing the freedom of those held captive, with the hope that it will be the first step in returning all the hostages home.”
Religious Zionist minister Orit Strook explained why she supported the deal despite previous opposition: “I voted for even though I didn’t really plan to. The deal for freeing the hostages is one of the achievements of the war – this is my conclusion after detailed surveys, questions answered in depth, and a look at the list of terrorists to be freed. The soldiers, who brought this achievement with their fighting, will continue to fight even more intensively immediately after it. The entire government, from end to end, is determined to achieve victory. Together, we will win.”