Yedioth Ahronoth: The army is returning regular brigades to combat, and the chances of rescuing prisoners alive are slim.

The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth revealed, in a report by military writer Yossi Yehoshua, that the Israeli army has decided to return regular brigades to combat in the Gaza Strip, giving them priority over reserve forces, given their "higher readiness and recent experience," in light of what the report described as "the need for specialized expertise in a complex urban environment."

However, the report clarified that the announced figures regarding the number of reserve soldiers are misleading, as the actual number of reserve soldiers currently in service does not exceed 74,000, not 250,000 as some sources have promoted. Meanwhile, the security establishment estimates that the maximum number expected to join the reserve will not exceed tens of thousands.

On the humanitarian front, Yehoshua noted that the military leadership unanimously agrees that the chances of rescuing Israeli prisoners alive from Gaza through a military operation are "extremely slim." He added that any public statements suggesting otherwise "give a misleading impression and make it difficult to make responsible decisions," emphasizing that the General Staff considers basing decisions on unrealistic expectations to be extremely dangerous.