Netanyahu: I Hope During Sukkot To Announce Return Of All The Hostages

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave a statement to the press on Saturday night following a Hamas announcement confirming the advancement of negotiations toward the release of the hostages and an end to the war.

“My brothers and sisters, citizens of Israel, we are on the verge of a very great achievement. It is not final yet, we are working on it vigorously, and I hope, with G-d’s help, that in the coming days, still during the Sukkot holiday,I will be able to announce to you the return of all our hostages, the living and the fallen alike, in a single operation, while the IDF remains in depth in the Strip and in the areas that control it,” he said.

“At the start of the war, a very senior figure in the defense establishment said: ‘Doubtful we will be able to bring back even one hostage alive.’ Throughout the war, there were also those who repeatedly claimed we could not get all the hostages without a complete and total withdrawal from the Strip. I believed otherwise and I acted differently. Thanks to the determined decisions I led together with the government, and thanks to the bravery of our fighters who pressured Hamas, we have returned to date 207 of our hostages. But I never gave up on the remaining hostages.

I never gave up either on achieving the other goals of the war. As I told the hostages when I spoke to them directly from the UN podium: ‘We have not forgotten you for even a moment.’ Throughout the war, my wife and I met with the hostages’ families. We saw their pain. We heard their suffering. We share their prayers that soon they will embrace their loved ones, and that the families of the fallen hostages will be able to bring their loved ones — our loved ones — to a grave in Israel,” he said.

“To bring back the remaining 48 of our hostages, I ordered several weeks ago that the IDF enter the most important stronghold of Hamas,  the city of Gaza. At the same time, I coordinated with President Trump and his team a diplomatic move that turned the table in an instant. Instead of Israel being isolated, Hamas became isolated. As a result of the intensified military pressure we applied and the diplomatic pressure, Hamas was pressured to agree to the plan we brought.

“In the first phase, Hamas will release all our hostages, and IDF forces will redeploy so that the IDF will continue to hold all the areas that control the depth of the Strip. I hear some who say today that Hamas was already willing a year ago, or even two years ago, to release all our hostages without our carrying out a full withdrawal from the Strip. I tell you that is simply a lie. What brought about the change in Hamas’s position was solely the military and diplomatic pressure we applied.

Thanks to the great support I received from you, citizens of Israel, and thanks to the bravery of our fighters, I stood up to enormous pressures from home and abroad to stop the war and surrender to Hamas’s terms.

You know what would have happened then. We would have left Gaza with almost no achievement. We would not have entered Rafah and taken control of the Philadelphi Corridor and thereby stopped the possibility of suffocating weapons into the Strip, we would not have eliminated Haniyeh, Sinwar, Daf and Nasrallah, we would not have brought about the collapse of the Assad regime and the breaking of Iran’s ‘axis of evil,’ and above all we would not have removed the existential threat of Iran’s nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles. This is a historic achievement that will be recorded in the history of Israel and also in the history of nations,” he clarified.

“I thank my friend, our friend, President Trump who assisted in this historic action, when he sent B‑2 aircraft to bomb the nuclear facility in Fordow, and I thank him for his steadfast support. There were those who dismissed the possibility that we could bring about the release of all our hostages without a full withdrawal from the Strip. They said: ‘It’s too good to be true.’ So I tell you: ‘It’s true, it’s real, and with G-d’s help, it will happen very soon.

“I instructed the negotiation team headed by Minister Darmer to go to Egypt to finalize the technical details of the release of our hostages. Our intention and that of our American friend is to wrap up these negotiations within a few days. You heard President Trump today; he said clearly: we will not tolerate further delaying tactics, stalling or evasiveness by Hamas. In the second stage, Hamas will be disarmed and the Strip will be demilitarized. This will happen either by diplomatic means according to Trump’s plan or by military means by us,” he said.

“I also said this in Washington: either it will be achieved the easy way, or it will be achieved the hard way, but it will be achieved. I thank the IDF fighters and the security forces — you are heroes! I salute you. I embrace the bereaved families who sacrificed the dearest thing, and the wounded in body and spirit, who sacrificed so much. I wish them a speedy and full recovery. Everything we have achieved we achieved thanks to all of you. And you, citizens of Israel, you showed steadfastness and patience in very difficult days.

“Together we have thwarted the annihilation plans of our enemies. From Gaza to Rafah, from Beirut to Damascus, from Yemen to Tehran, together we have achieved great gains. From victory to victory — together we are changing the face of the Middle East. Together we will continue to act to ensure the eternity of Israel. As it is said in our sources: ‘Each one helps his friend, and to his brother he will say, “Be strong.”’