"I am very concerned that a partial deal imposes a death sentence on most of the hostages, who will remain in Hamas captivity," said Ron-Tal on Radio 103FM and added: "If there is a deal, Hamas will get what it wants, it will keep the rest of the hostages and will not return any of them to us.”
“I also feel that we should bring home everyone that we can, but we are passing a death sentence on most of the hostages who are still alive. I prefer to keep pressing, to keep pushing for a deal that will bring us all of the hostages."
And what about the northern border? Ron-Tal believes that an agreement in Gaza will keep our strategic problem as is: "A deal like this, which the Americans at least are encouraging to prevent an all-out war in the region, also stops the military campaign in the north. If we stop it now, while Hezbollah still retains most of its strength, there will be no change in our security situation."
He warned that we will still be dealing with Hezbollah: "Such a deal is very problematic in terms of Israel’s existence. Hamas has been militarily defeated in Gaza. We have an existential problem that is getting stronger and stronger in the north. These are our neighbors. If we don't stay strong, we won't be here anymore."
Ron-Tal also commented on Israel’s war strategy: "It is extremely important to discuss why the IDF didn't enter Rafah at the beginning of the war. This was a terrible and strategic mistake by whoever planned the attack on the Gaza Strip. Our strategy resulted in a most convenient defensive battle for Hamas. The terrorist organization is going backwards, and we are going forward, while the gate behind them remains open. We can say that currently that we have not yet reached all the tunnels on this crazy highway between Egypt and Rafah. They built tunnels even while we were there. Imagine what has happened in the twenty years since we left."
Ron-Tal added, "The army suffered a very big shock on October 7th. There was no plan to capture Gaza. There were plans to take control one way or another, but not to capture it. The plan was carried out rather hastily and mistakes were made as a result of the October 7th trauma. If we had entered Rafah on the first day or first week, the war would have ended within a month. This is their oxygen pipeline."
Ron-Tal is due to be appointed next month to a very important and challenging position: the chairman of the Tekuma Directorate, which is responsible for helping evacuees from the Gaza surrounding area in their rehabilitation. In the meantime, he warns that if the IDF leaves the Gaza-Egypt border area (i.e. Philadelphi Corridor), it will be devastating for the region in the future as well: "An amazing amount of military equipment is in northern Sinai, just waiting for the opportunity to bring it through the tunnels into Gaza. Egypt is interested in this, not just to help Hamas, because it's an economic interest that reaches all the way to Cairo."
According to Ron-Tal, the tunnels connecting Rafah in Egypt and Rafah in Gaza are what built Hamas's military power, while he estimates that more than 95% of the terrorist organization's weapons were smuggled into Gaza: "All the weapons that were fired at us in recent years came through these tunnels. If we don't close them hermetically, it will happen to us again. This is what enabled Hamas to rebuild itself and we must lock off Rafah so that absolutely nothing can pass through there."
He concluded by saying that: "The IDF is saying something that I believe is much more serious: they assume that if we leave the Philadelphi Corridor and detect any movement going from Egypt through the Corridor, we can immediately return and attack. Do you think this is going to happen? This is the misconception that exploded in our faces on October 7th. The most advanced technological fence in the world, the most lethal fence in the world, is the fence through which the Nukhba terrorists invaded Israel, on crutches, on foot, and on tractors." Israel National News - Arutz Sheva
