Israel will return dozens of hostages in the near future, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset on Monday, just as it seemed that negotiations for the 101 captives in Gaza were at a standstill.
“We will bring back scores of hostages, hopefully soon,” Netanyahu said.
This will happen despite the skepticism and the personal attacks, as if “we don’t want to return the hostages,” Netanyahu stated, as he stressed to the families of the hostages in the gallery that efforts to return their loved ones “have not stopped for a moment.”
Netanyahu described how he sat awake until 3 a.m. to “discuss ways to overcome Hamas’s refusal to return everyone.
“I will not give up on anyone,” Netanyahu said.
He addressed the Knesset just one day after the State Attorney’s Office was poised to indict an aide to Netanyahu and another suspect for allegedly leaking top-secret documents to convince Israel that the hostage protests were strengthening Hamas. It was a charge that underscored the feeling of Netanyahu’s opponents that he did not want a deal.
Netanyahu said at the Knesset that leaks from the security cabinet and the negotiating team “seriously endanger” chances for an agreement.
“They delay the release of our hostages,” he said. “I read time and time again the investigations into this matter. I asked how they don’t investigate the leaks that cause enormous damage to the State of Israel.”
Emotions were so high during what was called the “40 Questions Debate” demanded by parliamentarians that Danny Elgarat, brother of Itzik Elgarat, who is in Hamas captivity, fainted in the visitors’ section of the Knesset plenum.
Elgarat shouted at Netanyahu from the gallery, and Knesset guards approached to remove him. Elgarat said earlier on Monday that he has been on a hunger strike for 47 days.
Knesset members from Yesh Atid and the Democrats left the plenum and joined other hostage family members in the visitors’ section to check on Elgarat. They also started to shout “liar” and “Why are they [the hostages] still in Gaza?”
In public comments over the last year, the United States and Netanyahu have blamed Hamas for the absence of a deal, while Qatar has pointed fingers at both Israel and the terrorist group.
Qatar, which along with Egypt, had been the primary mediator for a deal, suspended its participation in the talks last week.
The change of power in Washington, with US President Joe Biden now a lame-duck leader and President-elect Donald Trump due to enter the White House on January 20, has placed additional obstacles before a deal.
“Contrary to what is said in the [television] studios and in this hall – Hamas, and not Israel, is the obstacle to a deal,” Netanyahu said.
“The Americans, who are well aware of every detail of the negotiations, say this,” Netanyahu recalled, explaining that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken have underscored this message.
“They are saying what we are saying, that pressure should be applied to Hamas” so that it rescinds its impossible demands, Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu and Hamas have been at a standstill for almost a year, with Hamas insisting Israel must end the war and withdraw from Gaza. Israel, in turn, has said it won’t agree to a permanent ceasefire until the IDF has destroyed Hamas.
Earlier, Netanyahu told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel has offered NIS 5 million and safe passage out of Gaza for any Palestinian who provides the military with information about the location of the hostages.
He spoke during a closed-door FADC meeting prior to the Knesset speech.
“I gave the order to increase the reward for those who bring information about the hostages – NIS 5m. for each hostage, instead of NIS 1m., and safe passage for the informant and his family,” Netanyahu said, according to the source.
In his public comments, Netanyahu explained that Israel is willing to do small deals by which captors would be given monetary rewards and free passage out of Gaza in exchange for releasing the hostages in their custody.
Netanyahu stressed, however, that talks were still ongoing and that the possibility of small deals was being examined.•
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