Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, who became the IDF’s point person on hostage negotiations following the October 7 attack, said Friday that Israel could have shortened the war in Gaza and secured the return of the hostages much earlier.
Speaking at a Washington Institute for Near East Policy webcast marking three years since October 7, Alon was asked whether some of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s calculations were influenced by political considerations. He said he could not know what was going on in Netanyahu’s mind, but argued that the war could have reached its strategic objectives much sooner.
“In my opinion, I think that we got those precondition terms in terms of, in order to end the war, the high intensity war in Gaza, we had to bring all the hostages back," he said. “It was definitely a precondition."
Alon said Israel could have reached similar military achievements “much earlier, maybe a year earlier or so," without compromising other strategic objectives. He argued that doing so could also have saved lives and potentially returned some hostages who died in captivity alive to their families. “We could have and we should have shortened the war, brought all the hostages back, maybe a year earlier, and moved forward and maybe, you know, saved thousands of lives on both sides," he said.
Addressing the political considerations surrounding the war, Alon said Netanyahu’s decisions could not be attributed to a single factor. “Again, those slogans of total victory, of determination, et cetera, are a false one," he said. “I guess that Prime Minister Netanyahu, like other politicians and human beings, in his mind, he looked from some strategic perspective and he had this ideological perspective. At the same time, he had his own political constraints, maybe personal issues as well. And it's all involved. We cannot split it and say this was the major one and this was it."
Alon also acknowledged the tension between the military objective of defeating Hamas and the goal of bringing the hostages home. “There was a lot of tension, maybe some conflict between the goals of the war, between eliminating Hamas and bringing the hostages back," he said. But in his assessment, the military gains ultimately achieved could have been reached earlier. “If you look at what we got after two years of very intense conflict, we could have gotten almost the same strategic goals regarding eliminating the power of Hamas much earlier."
He also argued that the October 2025 agreements did not produce a fundamentally different strategic outcome. “I don't think that we got a lot of achievements in the agreements that we got in October of 2025," Alon said. “It was a little bit better than what we could have gotten a few months earlier, but not from a strategic perspective." He added that Hamas remained in power in Gaza and continued to control much of the population, despite no longer controlling more than half of the Strip.
Asked about the large public demonstrations demanding the release of the hostages, Alon said the solidarity shown by Israelis gave him personal strength during the negotiations. He described October 7 as involving “a very severe intelligence and military failure, along with a mistaken, catastrophic, mistaken approach by the political leadership," but said Israeli society subsequently demonstrated initiative and solidarity.
“On a personal level, seeing many people, dedicated people, that stepped up to help bring the hostages home gave me the strength to handle this painful time," he said.
Alon called for a different approach from Israel’s political leadership, saying the country needs leaders who present realistic plans rather than relying on slogans. “Israel needs leadership that takes such reality as it is and offer true hope, not illusion, not leadership that relies on slogans like total victory, but ones that provides realistic and balanced plan to address our security, economic, and social challenges," he said.
Despite the divisions and extremism he sees in Israeli society, Alon said he remains optimistic about its resilience. “I'm not worried about the Israeli society, despite the fact that there is some extremism and there are so many good things in the Israeli societies that we show through all those years," he said.
He concluded by pointing to potential opportunities elsewhere in the region, arguing that developments in Lebanon and Syria could provide openings for a broader regional shift. “We talk a lot about the pessimism towards the Israeli-Palestinian relationship, but there are some very important opportunities to go forward in Lebanon, in Syria," Alon said. “That might be the first steps in order to create this new hope and new optimism regarding the broader Israeli-Arab conflict."
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)