Barnea emphasized during Tuesday's cabinet session that the female hostages are running out of time.
According to a minister present at the meeting who spoke to Walla, Barnea indicated that it would "take weeks, at best, to develop a system to block the transfer of arms from southern Gaza to the north, and the hostages don't have that much time."
The meeting saw Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir maintaining their opposition to the proposed deal. Conversely, Ministers Miri Regev and Gila Gamliel voiced their support, with Regev stating, "It's a gaping wound in our society, and we owe it to the public and civilians whom the IDF and Shin Bet failed to protect on October 7th."
Gamliel added emotionally, "Women could give birth in nine months, and that's an irreparable tragedy."
"There are also men among them," interjected Ben-Gvir.