Gaza War: Netanyahu: First we have to free the hostages

According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s attacks in Iran opened “far -reaching regional possibilities”, including the liberation of hostages in the Gaza Strip. “First of all, we have to free the hostages,” said Netanyahu, according to the media, when visiting the domestic secret service. According to the “Times of Israel”, his statement was interpreted by domestic media in such a way that Netanyahu is now prioritizing the return of the hostages – especially others like victory over Hamas.

“Of course we also have to solve the Gaza problem and defeat the Hamas, but I think we will manage both tasks,” Netanyahu was quoted. The background to his statements is that Israel is exposed to increasing pressure from the United States to reach an agreement on the end of the war, which has been going on for more than 20 months, wrote the “Times of Israel”. US President Donald Trump said that he assumed that a ceasefire could be reached this week.

According to Israeli media reports, Netanyahu headed a cabinet meeting in a headquarters of the armed forces on Sunday evening to advise on the war in the Gaza Strip and the efforts of the hostages from Hamas to advise against Palestinian prisons. The session had ended without a decision, further discussions were scheduled for today, it said.

Also today, according to information from the “Times of Israel”, Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, wants to meet US officials in Washington in order to coordinate with the USA before another round of placement talks in Cairo via a possible Gaza agreement. Dermmer would put pressure on Trump’s government to end the war in Gaza, the newspaper quoted an Arabic diplomat and a US official familiar with the matter. The United States, Egypt and Qatar act as an intermediary between Israel and Hamas.

A group of relatives of the hostage meanwhile directed an online appeal to Trump and asked him in English, to do everything in his power, to get the kidnapped back. According to official Israeli information, 22 living kidnapped are recorded in Gaza. 28 others are therefore only about handing over their remains. The war was triggered by the attack by Hamas and other Islamist terrorist organizations to Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 deported to Gaza as hostages.