Netanyahu says he hopes to announce return of all hostages during upcoming holiday, IDF will remain 'deep in Gaza.'

 

 Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening spoke to the media about Hamas' apparent agreementto release all hostages and discuss ending the war in Gaza.

"I hope that, with G-d's help, during the holiday of Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) I will be able to announce to you the return of all our hostages - the living and deceased alike, as a single group, with the IDF remaining deep in Gaza," Netanyahu said.

"Throughout the war, there were those who relentlessly claimed that we could not get back all of the hostages without withdrawing from Gaza. I believed otherwise, and I acted otherwise."

He added: "In order to return the remaining 48 hostages, I instructed the IDF to enter Hamas' important fortress - Gaza City. At the same time, I detailed with President Trump the diplomatic process in which, instead of Israel being isolated, Hamas will be isolated."

"I hear that there are those who say that Hamas was already prepared a year ago to release all of our hostages without us fully withdrawing from Gaza. That is simply a lie. What brought about the change in Hamas' position is the diplomatic and military pressure that we applied."

Netanyahu concluded, "I thank my friend President Trump for his unyielding support. To you, I say: This is real, and it will happen very soon."

"I have instructed the negotiating team to leave for Egypt to finalize the technical details of our hostages' release. Our goal is to keep the negotiations limited to a few days. Trump said clearly: We will not put up with procrastination and evasiveness. During the second stage, Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be disarmed. It will either be achieved through diplomacy, or militarily, but it will be achieved."

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry has announced that the country will host delegations from Israel and from the Hamas terror group on Monday, "in order to discuss the conditions on the ground and the details of the release of all the Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, in alignment with US President Donald Trump's offer."