Netanyahu: We Are Taking Control of Gaza City — and Negotiating for All Hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he had approved plans to take over the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza City — while also pursuing negotiations for the release of all Israeli hostages.

In a statement translated from Hebrew and released by the Government Press Office, Netanyahu, speaking during a visit to troops deployed to Gaza, said:

I came here to approve the IDF plans for taking control of Gaza City and defeating Hamas. In parallel, I instructed to begin immediate negotiations for the release of all our hostages and the end of the war, on conditions that are acceptable for Israel.

We’re at the decisive stage. I came today to the Gaza Division in order to approve the plans that the IDF presented to me and to the Defense Minister for taking control of Gaza City and defeating Hamas.

I greatly appreciate the mobilization of the reserve soldiers, and of course the regular army, for this essential cause.

In parallel, I have instructed to begin immediate negotiations for the release of all our hostages and the end of the war, on conditions that are acceptable for Israel.

Those two things, the defeat of Hamas and the release of all our hostages, go hand in hand.

Rumors of a possible deal have swirled for days, after Hamas appeared to accept the terms of a deal it had rejected in May, when U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff proposed a two-stage hostage release deal.

Netanyahu, heeding the Israeli public, is now arguing that only a one-shot, complete deal will be acceptable.

Military pressure appears to be playing a role in encouraging Hamas to negotiate — a reversal after it backed away from talks, following the decision by several western governments to recognize a Palestinian state, giving the terrorists what they want without compromises.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.