AL-QUDS (Dispatches) – 
Zionist war minister Yoav Gallant called Sunday for “painful concessions” to release captives held in the Gaza Strip.
“Not every objective can be achieved through military means alone; force is not the answer to everything,” Gallant said at a memorial day held for those killed in the Palestinian resistance factions’ operation last year.
“When it comes to fulfilling our ethical duty of bringing captives home, painful concessions will be required,” he added.
The war minister acknowledged that the ongoing Gaza war was “complex and unprecedented in its challenges.”
“This year, we struck our enemy and created a new security reality around us, but the costs have been very high,” he said.
Gallant’s statements came as the Zionist regime’s negotiators are set to resume negotiations in Qatar for a potential captive exchange deal with Hamas.
Israel estimates that some 101 captives are still held by the Hamas in Gaza, some of whom are believed to have been already killed by the Zionist regime’s ongoing and indiscriminate airstrikes across the tiny enclave.
Mediation efforts led by the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap agreement between Israel and Hamas have failed over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to end the war.
The Israeli army has continued a devastating aggression on the Gaza Strip since last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.
Nearly 43,000 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 100,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.
The Zionist regime’s onslaught has displaced almost the territory’s entire population amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
The Zionist regime also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.