Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday addressed the Hamas-Israel conflict amid the ongoing ceasefire.He claimed that if he had halted the war earlier, Israelis from all walks of life “would have gone up to heaven in nuclear smoke.”
Netanyahu was speaking during the opening plenary of the Knesset’s winter session. Opening his address, Netanyahu pledged to “bring the slain hostages home, until the very last one.”“No one needs to remind us of the importance of the sacred mission of bringing back the slain hostages,” Netanyahu said, as cited by the Times of Israel.He said Hamas was never ready to accept the current terms, which include the full return of hostages, continued IDF control over most of Gaza, and broad international, including Arab, support for demilitarizing the Strip and disarming Hamas.“If I had listened to many of those in this hall, and outside it,” Netanyahu added, “you who called for me to stop the war, to surrender, to throw up my hands… If I had given in to these demands, the war would have ended with a crushing victory for Hamas and the entire Iranian axis.”He dismissed claims that the deal Israel accepted earlier this month was available a year ago.“At no stage – not six months ago, not a year ago, not a year and a half ago – at no stage was Hamas ready to accept the proposal that we attained now. The return of all our hostages at once, IDF control over the majority of Gaza’s territory, IDF presence in the majority of Gaza’s territory, and an explicit commitment with broad international agreement, including Arab countries, and almost all the Muslim world, to demilitarize the Strip and disarm Hamas,” Netanyahu said. Netanyahu asserted that Hamas “felt the sword on its neck” and was compelled to accept the current hostage-ceasefire deal after he ordered the IDF into Gaza City, the group’s last major stronghold. As Israeli troops advanced, he said, “Hamas understood it was facing annihilation.”Netanyahu said Israel had restored its deterrence, rescued the living hostages, and would recover the slain as well. He declared that Israel had “cemented its status as a superpower,” but added that “the campaign is not over.”The fragile Gaza ceasefire came under threat last week as Hamas fighters attacked Israeli troops in Rafah, leading to IDF airstrikes in response.The fragile Gaza ceasefire was threatened Sunday as Hamas fighters attacked Israeli troops in Rafah, prompting IDF airstrikes. The Israeli military confirmed targeting militants in the southern Gaza city, while Gaza’s civil defense agency reported that the strikes killed at least 33 people across the territory.Amid renewed clashes, Hamas handed over two coffins of Israeli hostages, raising the total returned to 12. In response, Israel kept the Rafah border crossing closed, citing Hamas’s slow cooperation, blocking thousands from traveling for medical or family reasons since May 2024.Gaza’s health ministry reported that more than 68,000 Palestinians have died since the war began in October 2023, with thousands still missing.
