Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant met on Sunday with representatives of the families of those who were taken hostage or have gone missing during Hamas's October 7th terror attack in southern Israel.
The meeting was attended by Personnel Directorate Chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor, Hostage and Missing Person Coordinator Gal Hirsch, the Minister of Defense's bureau chief Shahar Katz, the minister's advisor Lior Lotan, and various professional officials from the defense establishment.
The professional officials briefed the families on the efforts being made to locate and learn about the conditions of the hostages and missing persons and to bring them home. Gallant listened to the families, answered their questions, and detailed the actions being done to return the hostages and locate those missing.
"It was important to me to meet you and listen to you. Returning the hostages and locating those missing is the top priority. I have two goals: to return the hostages and win the war. Everything else is less important at the moment," the Minister told the families.
He added: "For this issue, we have gathered our best people from all of the security branches. You all saw who Hamas is, we have nothing more important than returning the hostages and defeating Hamas."
According to him, "Hamas's various publications are severe mind-games with the minds of anyone who is here and all of the people of Israel. Hamas is making cynical use of all that is dear to us, they understand the pain and the pressure."
"The ground offensive is intertwined with the effort to bring back the hostages. If military pressure isn't put on Hamas, nothing will proceed. They want to collapse Israeli society from the inside, and they are brutally using the hostages. The military move is meant, among other things, to increase the chance of our returning our people. I deal with the issue every day, the hostages and the missing are in my heart and on my mind during security discussions and decision-making. We are dealing with animals, not humans, this is a complex journey, with hope and disappointment, I am determined to win the war, and bringing back the hostages is part of the victory," he concluded.