Israeli defense minister rules out deal with Hamas over Israeli soldiers' bodies

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he is not going to negotiate with Hamas in Gaza over the return of Israeli soldiers' bodies killed in the 2014 war, the Israeli channel 10 news reported on Monday.

The channel reported the hawkish defense minister said in a closed meeting during a visit to southern Israel on Monday that he rejects any negotiations with Hamas, which he dubbed a terrorist organization.

"In my assessment, the soldiers' bodies will not be returned to Israel, I don't see that happening," Lieberman was quoted by the channel as saying. His office denied he had made the comments.

Sgt. Oron Shaul and Lt. Hadar Goldin were killed in separate incidents during the Israeli military ground operation of July and August of 2014, amid the two-month war, known as Israel's Operation Protective Edge. Their bodies had been held in the strip since.

Goldin's family issued a statement following Channel 10's report on Monday evening, criticizing Lieberman's remarks.

"A defense minister who decides to give up on returning soldiers from the battlefield has no moral authority to be a defense minister," the family said in the statement.

Lieberman was appointed defense minister in May, as part of a political deal between him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, replacing moderate right-wing politician Moshe Ya'alon.

Last month, the Yedioth Aharonot daily newspaper reported Hamas is interested in a deal with Israel, in which Israel will release Palestinian prisoners who are members of the Hamas organization, in exchange for the remains of the two soldiers.

More than 2,200 Palestinians and over 70 Israelis were killed in the 2014 war in the strip, the latest in several rounds of fighting in the past decade between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement, which had been ruling the enclave since 2007.

Israel and Hamas reached a cease-fire agreement, mediated by Egypt, on Aug. 26, 2014.

The calm has been mostly kept, except for occasional rocket attacks from the strip towards southern communities in Israel, usually causing no injuries. The Israeli army had usually retaliated with designated air strikes in the strip.

Last week, Lieberman said Israel would not allow Hamas to arm itself, two days after it retaliated massively with 50 attacks across the strip, after four rockets were launched towards the southern Israeli town of Sderot the previous weekend, causing some damages to houses. Two Palestinians were said to be injured by the Israeli military strikes.

Israel occupied the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast War and evacuated its settlements and soldiers from it in 2005, imposing a blockade over the enclave since 2007. Endit