Gaza hostage deal could have been secured a year earlier, Israeli general says

Israeli Reserve Major General Nitzan Alon, the former government point person on hostage negotiations, has said Israeli hostages in Gaza could have been brought home up to a year earlier, before they were released in late 2025. “Political and personal considerations” got in the way, Alon said during a conversation hosted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Friday. Alon has accused the government several times over the past year of delaying or preventing the release of hostages, and has frequently clashed publicly with ministers over responsibility for the deaths of hostages in captivity and the prolonging of the war in Gaza. He said Israel could have secured the release of all the hostages a year before the final hostage deal, “without it having any impact on the outcome of the war,” while calling for new, “realistic” Israeli leadership. Alon has accused the government of delaying or preventing the release of hostages.