Netanyahu: Israel’s pushing for release of Gaza hostages

Israel has continued to pursue its efforts to secure the release of the two Israeli captives and the two missing IDF soldiers in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.

He spoke after a particularly blistering attack by the mother of one of the missing soldiers, Leah Goldin. In an interview with Channel 12 on Saturday she accused the Israeli negotiator for their release, Yaron Blum, of “lying” and “deceiving” the families of the missing soldiers and captives in Gaza.

Netanyahu told the cabinet, “I want to say on this issue that I have full confidence in Yaron Bloom who is doing his work in a credible, serious and professional manner.”

At issue is the fate of the bodies of two soldiers, who have been missing since the 2014 Gaza war and are presumed dead; Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul.

Palestinians in Gaza are also presumed to be holding hostage two Israelis, who suffer from emotional illness and as such wandered into Gaza. These are Ethiopian-Israeli Avraham “Avera” Mengistu, who entered Gaza in September 2014 and Beduin Israeli Hisham al-Sayed who went into Gaza in 2015.

Netanyahu also responded to the exchange of fire between Gaza and Israel over the weekend, in which the IDF hit Hamas targets after Palestinians in Gaza launched 10 rockets against the southern part of the country.

One of rockets directly hit a home in Sderot, but did not cause any injuries.

“It must be understood that as far as we are concerned, Hamas is responsible for every attack originating from the territory of the Gaza Strip. I do not intend to go into detail here about our plans. We will continue to take action on all fronts for the security of the State of Israel, both openly and covertly, on land, sea, and in the air,” Netanyahu said.

“We are in a very sensitive and volatile security period on several fronts – north, east and south. Immediately after the firing at the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip, I convened a discussion of the security leadership at the Defense Ministry. I ordered that we attack a series of objectives; therefore, the air force attacked them. You could certainly be impressed by the power of the assault,” he said.

Netanyahu is scheduled to hold a security-diplomatic cabinet meeting on Sunday afternoon.

Separately, Netanyahu referenced the continuing violence of Jewish extremists in the West Bank to attack IDF soldiers and Border Police.

“We will not tolerate the throwing of stones or any other attack against IDF soldiers who are carrying out their work, doing their duty and protecting all of us in Judea and Samaria, and everywhere else in the country,” Netanyahu said.