Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted after the release of three more hostages from Gaza in exchange for 183 Palestinian terrorists held in Israel that he would “do everything possible to return” the 76 who remain captive and stressed that Hamas will not remain in the Strip.
“Or, Eli and Ohad returned home today. Sara (Netanyahu) and I embrace them and their precious families,” the president said in a recorded video message, as he followed the exchange from the US, from where he is expected to return today, Sunday.
“We will do everything possible to return all our hostages. We will guarantee their safety. This is the instruction I gave to the delegation: to tell this to the mediators and demand it from them,” Netanyahu continued, referring to the Israeli delegation that travelled to Doha last night.
In the Qatari capital, the embassy will negotiate "technical details" of the ceasefire agreement, but not how to implement the second phase of the agreement, an official confirmed on condition of anonymity.
Netanyahu added that his American counterpart, Donald Trump, “fully agreed” with him on the need to do everything possible to free all the hostages in Gaza, but without allowing the Islamic terrorist group Hamas to continue there.
"We have seen again what the Hamas monsters are capable of," he warned after the release of images of the state of health of the three former captives, which he described as "shocking" in a previous statement due to their extreme thinness.
“We will eliminate Hamas and return our hostages. This is the instruction, and this is what we will do,” he repeated.
Agencies contributed to this Aurora article