‘A wild gamble on hostages’ lives’: Defense chiefs said set to urge cabinet to take Gaza deal

Israeli defense chiefs will present an all-but united front to the security cabinet on Sunday, beseeching ministers to accept the current proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza over the government’s desired offensive in Gaza City, Channel 12 reported Friday.

This includes IDF chief Eyal Zamir, Mossad Director David Barnea and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, the report said. A notable exception is the acting chief of the Shin Bet, identified only by the initial “Shin” for security reasons. His exact stance was not detailed.

Security chiefs will also question why Israel has not held a cabinet meeting to at least seriously consider the latest offer on the table — an offer Jerusalem had itself recently approved.

The phased proposal crafted by Arab mediators that Hamas approved on August 18 envisions the release of 10 hostages along with the bodies of 18 slain captives in five batches over a 60-day ceasefire, during which the sides will hold talks on the terms of the release of the remaining hostages and a permanent end to the war.

The proposal is nearly identical to one crafted by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, which Israel approved only last month, before Hamas added new demands in late July that led to the collapse of talks, Arab diplomats told The Times of Israel. The Arab mediators subsequently managed to bring Hamas down from those new demands, but Israel in the meantime has said it is no longer interested in a phased deal.

“There is a deal on the table that Israel fought for. We must grasp the opportunity to bring hostages back alive and to use the ceasefire to reach an end to the fighting,” a senior security source told the network. “Any other decision, based on the thought that Hamas will surrender if we enter Gaza [City], is a wild gamble on the lives of hostages and soldiers.”

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir speaks at a handover ceremony for the head of the Military Colleges at the Glilot base, August 14, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

The unnamed official added that multiple living hostages could have returned last week and been home safe by now had Israel accepted the deal as it had in the past.

Hamas warned Israel on Friday that the planned offensive to conquer Gaza City will subject hostages in the area to the “same risks” as the terror group’s fighters.

“We will take care of the prisoners the best we can, and they will be with our fighters in the combat and confrontation zones, subjected to the same risks and the same living conditions,” Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing, said in a statement.

Zamir was previously reported to tell the government that it must accept the proposal that’s currently on offer, warning that “there is great danger to the lives of the hostages in taking over Gaza City.”

Since Hamas’s temporary refusal of the offer in July, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reversed course, saying he will no longer accept a partial agreement, and will only negotiate for the release of all hostages together. According to Netanyahu, the war must end with Hamas’s disarmament, the Strip’s demilitarization, and a new civilian government in the territory that is neither the terror group nor the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.

Mossad chief David Barnea attends a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem on April 23, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Retired generals, opposition lawmakers and citizens in support of a hostage deal have all warned publicly that Hamas guards could murder captives if Israeli troops draw near, as the terror group has done to other hostages in the past. Family members of slain hostages whose bodies are held in the Strip have also warned that a Gaza City takeover could prevent the retrieval of their loved ones’ remains.

The military, however, has started active preparations for the new offensive. Thousands of reservists have been called up for the operation and are expected to report for duty September 2, with the maneuver to begin in the following weeks.

Jerusalem is moving forward with the plan despite broad international opposition — with the exception of the US — as well as anger at home among many citizens who feel the move poses unjustified risk to the remaining hostages, as well as to soldiers.

A poll aired by Channel 12 Friday showed that 60% of Israelis say the next step in the war should be to secure a hostage deal, compared to 31% of respondents who say Israel should first move ahead with plans to take Gaza City.

Sixty-five percent of respondents said the most important war aim was returning the hostages, compared to 27% who said it was destroying Hamas.

Protesters gather at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square for a rally calling for a deal securing the release of hostages held in Gaza on August 26, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Friday saw security forces return the body of slain hostage Ilan Weiss in an operation in Gaza. His body was recovered along with the remains of a second hostage, whose name was not immediately published as the identification process was still ongoing at the Abu Kabir National Institute of Forensic Medicine.

Weiss, 56, was killed on the morning of October 7, 2023, while defending Kibbutz Be’eri from Hamas-led terrorists as a member of the emergency response team.

His wife Shiri and daughter Noga were also taken hostage and later freed during a weeklong truce and hostage release deal in November 2023. Noga was drafted into the IDF in May 2024.

Ilan Weiss, who was murdered by Hamas in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023 and his body taken to Gaza, in an undated photo. (Courtesy/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

The IDF said the complex recovery mission in Gaza was carried out by Southern Command forces with intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Directorate, the Shin Bet, and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

“This is an ongoing, principled effort that we will continue to pursue,” Zamir said Friday regarding the military’s efforts to return the captives. “We will not rest or remain silent until all our hostages are returned by any means possible.”

The Forum mourned Weiss as “a loving and devoted family man, [who] excelled at cooking and loved to barbecue.” The group added in its statement: “The hostages are running out of time. We must return all of them home, now!”

According to official figures, 48 hostages now remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced that the weekly Saturday night protest at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv will this week mark a year since the murder of six hostages in a tunnel in Rafah.

“The advancement of the plan to conquer Gaza City, while a deal for the return of the hostages is on the negotiating table and is not discussed by the security cabinet, is a bloody reminder of the events of the last year. Military pressure kills hostages,” the Forum said in a statement.

IDF troops from the 7th Armored Brigade operate in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, August 28, 2025 (Lazar Berman/The Times of Israel)

“Enough of this continuing nightmare. Forty-two of our brothers and sisters were abducted alive and murdered in captivity — we must not reach 43.”

Protests have swelled in recent weeks after the government approved plans to take over Gaza City.