National Unity Party leader and former Israel's Minister without Portfolio Benny Gantz said on Sunday that the Israeli government knew that hostages taken by Hamas were living in "substandard conditions, in tunnels, without food and hygiene."
"We knew that they were being abused physically and mentally. We knew other things that I will not write about. We knew and said – that returning the kidnapped was a goal that took precedence over the other goals of the war, because they did not have time," he said in a post on X, referring to intelligence Israel possessed.
He claimed that more than 30 hostages died in captivity, either killed by Hamas, bombs or under other circumstances.
