Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel ‘will bring all of the hostages home’ as part of a new peace plan, in a speech on Saturday evening.
The Israeli prime minister claimed that ‘military and diplomatic pressure’ had compelled Hamas to agree to release the captives.
Netanyahu sought to present an image of a victorious campaign, presenting Hamas’ announcement that they would release the hostages and transfer power in the Gaza Strip as a vindication of his own tactics.
‘In the second stage, Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarised – either the easy way or the hard way, but it will be achieved,’ Netanyahu said in a televised statement from Jerusalem.
‘I hope that in the coming days we will be able to bring back all our hostages… during the Sukkot holidays.’
The Jewish holiday of Sukkot begins on Monday and lasts until the following Monday.
The speech was delayed for over an hour, as Netanyahu reportedly sought to pacify hardliners within his own government who have threatened to walk away if Hamas are allowed to continue to exist.
‘We have bought back 207 hostages, but I never gave up on the others or of achieving the other objectives of this war,’ Netanyahu said.
‘At the beginning of the war one of our officials said I doubt we’ll be able to bring a single hostage alive.’
He added that while some people had argued the only way to ensure the hostages’ return was to fully leave the Gaza Strip, the decision to launch a large scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza had been the correct one.
Both Israel and Hamas have signaled support for the new US plan to end the war in Gaza and release all remaining hostages there.
Trump’s proposal calls for a halt to hostilities, the release of hostages within 72 hours, a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas’s disarmament.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel ‘will bring all of the hostages home’ as part of a new peace plan, in a televised speech on Saturday evening
But despite the US president’s order on Friday night that Israel ‘immediately’ stop bombing Gaza, air strikes appeared to have continued in the region overnight into Saturday.
In accordance with Trump’s deal, Hamas has agreed to release hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails being returned.
Hamas has also expressed its willingness to surrender power in the Gaza Strip and transfer the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independent technocrats, ‘based on Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support.’
The group has governed the Gaza Strip since its takeover of the territory from the rival Fatah-ruled Palestinian Authority (PA) on June 14, 2007.
They were responding to a 20-point peace plan outlined in a meeting between Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday night.
Israeli militray sources now believe that Hamas is a hugely depleted force as the IDF’s onslaught nears its second anniversary.
A plan for peace in the region was outlined in a meeting between Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday night
Hamas has agreed to hand over Gaza’s administration to a panel of independent Palestinian technocrats, claiming the body would operate with ‘Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support’
In a post on Truth Social, the US president warned Hamas that they ‘must move quickly, or else all bets will be off’
The US president has warned Hamas to ‘move quickly’ and release the hostages in Gaza or ‘all bets will be off’ amid efforts to broker a peace deal with Israel.
The president took to Truth Social on Saturday morning, issuing a sharp warning to the terrorist group to get the operation ‘done FAST.’
Twenty hostages remain in Hamas’ custody, along with the bodies of 28 others which the group has refused to return to Israeli families since its brutal attack on October 7, 2023.
Now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed the Israeli Defense Forces to stop their advance in Gaza City and scale back operations ‘to a minimum,’ signaling a major shift.
Israel says it has began the ‘first phase’ of the peace plan, which it claims will restrict military operations to purely defensive manoeuvres.
‘I appreciate that Israel has temporarily stopped the bombing in order to give the Hostage release and Peace Deal a chance to be completed,’ Trump wrote.
‘Hamas must move quickly, or else all bets will be off,’ he added. ‘I will not tolerate delay, which many think will happen, or any outcome where Gaza poses a threat again.’
‘Let’s get this done, FAST. Everyone will be treated fairly!’
Netanyahu faced challenges to the Trump plan from hardliners in his government such as minister of national security Itamar Ben Gvir, who heads up the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, and threatened to pull out of the government if Hamas ‘continues to exist’ following the hostage release
On Monday, Trump hailed what he called, ‘potentially one of the great days ever in civilization,’ unveiling plans to rule Gaza as part of his initiative for ‘eternal peace in the Middle East’.
The release of the 48 hostages, 28 of whom are believed to be dead, now occupies a central place within internal Israeli politics -including the cabinet itself.
While some of the hardliners within Netanyahu’s government like finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and minister of national security Itamar Ben-Gvir caution the Israeli prime minister from making any deal with Hamas, moderates within the Knesset are adamant that everything should be done to ensure their release.
Ben Gvir, who heads up the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, has threatened to pull out of the government if Hamas ‘continues to exist’ following the hostage release under Trump’s proposals.
Donald Trump’s son-in-law and a senior envoy were heading to Egypt Saturday to finalize hostage release details, as the US president warned he would ‘not tolerate delay’ by Hamas in implementing a peace plan with Israel.
A White House official confirmed to AFP that Jared Kushner and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff are traveling to the region to address the finalization of details on the release of hostages and to discuss the deal pushed by the US president to bring an end to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said at least 57 people have been killed since dawn in Israeli strikes, including 40 in Gaza City alone.
In an interview Saturday with Axios, Trump – highlighting his behind-the-scenes diplomacy including with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – said a peace deal in Gaza was ‘close’ and that he will push to have it finalized in coming days.
‘I said, ‘Bibi, this is your chance for victory.’ He was fine with it,’ Trump told the US publication. ‘He’s got to be fine with it. He has no choice. With me, you got to be fine.’
Trump also said his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan was ‘very helpful’ in urging Hamas to agree to the release of hostages.
‘Erdogan helped a lot. He is a tough guy, but he is a friend of mine and he was great,’ Trump said.
This is a breaking story, more to follow…
