Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday told hostages’ family members that there is no end in sight to the impasse between Israel and Hamas on negotiations to free their loved ones, explaining that Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar is watching the escalations on the Lebanese and Iranian fronts and hoping his long-sought regional war will finally materialize.

“There’s stagnation, and I don’t see progress right now in this period, I’m very sorry to say,” the defense minister told families, as heard in a recording aired by the Hebrew press.

“There’s been a hardening on the part of Hamas,” he said, adding that the terror group is monitoring Israel’s fight against Hezbollah and its ramped-up threats against Iran, and hoping “something will happen that will serve them.”

The comments came some two weeks into an Israeli ground offensive in southern Lebanon against the Hezbollah. The terror group began attacking Israeli military posts and border communities on October 8, 2023, with rockets and fighter drones, declaring its solidarity with Hamas and causing the displacement of tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes in the north. Israel has vowed to make it safe for those residents to return home.

According to the Ynet news site, Gallant told the families on Monday that if an opportunity arose to advance a hostage deal by linking the Lebanese and Gazan fronts, Israel would take it. Until now, Israel has sought to separate the two theaters after a year in which Hezbollah had insisted it would not stop attacking Israel without a deal to end the war in Gaza.

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