‘Destroy Hamas, enable Gazans to leave, Israeli security control of Gaza’ – PM Netanyahu speaks on hostages and Gaza ‘Day After’

For a long time, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been criticized for his hostile attitude towards Israeli media outlets and his refusal to give Hebrew-language interviews.

This criticism has further intensified throughout the war, as the prime minister has rarely turned to the public to explain his decisions and policies in a detailed manner and in Hebrew, although giving sporadic interviews to English media outlets.

Therefore, his over one-hour-long interview on the Hebrew-language podcast “Shomer Saf” (Gatekeeper) by right-wing intellectual Gadi Taub, published on Wednesday, was a rare opportunity for the Israeli public to gain insights into the decision-making of the prime minister.

After speaking on a variety of topics related to the war, toward the end of the interview, Netanyahu laid out his view of the hostage issue, defending himself against allegations that he doesn’t care about their fate, and reiterating his conviction that only military pressure can return the hostages.

“This issue gets distortions that are hard to describe. Just distortions, a flood of false leaks and false briefings,” the prime minister charged. “The main claim is that we don’t want to bring them back. I don’t want to bring them back – that’s what they keep saying.”

In an earlier part of the interview, Netanyahu had explained how the first hostage deal in November 2023 was a result of the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) rapid initial advances, as well as strong international legitimacy and support.

The prime minister also claimed to have pressured Biden to support a demand to raise the number of hostages who would be released from 50 to 80.

“Even before the first release, there was a very senior figure in the cabinet who said on the first day that we need to understand, we probably won’t be able to free even one. We need to understand – it’s lost,” Netanyahu told Taub.

“And I didn’t think so. I thought the combination of military pressure and diplomatic pressure would lead to a release, and it did lead to the release of those 80 – 30 more than the 50 we talked about. And now the question was, how do we get the rest?”

After the resumption of fighting, “the diplomatic pressure turned on us,” Netanyahu continued. “And Sinwar’s sitting there in his bunker saying, ‘I don’t need to do anything because now Israel’s under pressure. We’ll pressure it to stop the war,'” he said.

Even in Israel’s cabinet, some voices were advocating to stop the war before the IDF entered Rafah, which it would eventually attack in May 2024. Netanyahu recounted that he was told by an unnamed cabinet member, “We need to stop the war; try to free the remaining hostages; we can come back in a year or two.”

At the time, Benny Gantz and his party colleague Gadi Eisenkot were still part of the War Cabinet after their National Unity Party had joined a unity government.

Netanyahu pointed out that “Senior Americans, not exactly Likud supporters – Sullivan, McGurk, Blinken, even President Biden himself – said, ‘Listen, there wasn’t a proposal that Israel rejected. The only obstacle to a deal was Hamas.'”

“When did we suddenly see a change? When the military pressure increased as we entered Rafah,” Netanyahu continued.

However, subsequent escalations with Lebanon and Iran again emboldened Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, “he thought maybe salvation would come from Iran, from Nasrallah. When he realized that wasn’t happening, he went back” to the negotiating table, according to the prime minister.

Sinwar was killed by IDF troops in October 2024.

Negotiations continued sporadically over the next months, until a second deal was reached in January of this year.

“We needed to apply – again – double pressure: military pressure, which we intensified, and diplomatic pressure. For that, we enlisted President Trump – he joined us, with us, not against us, unlike before,” Netanyahu said, in one of many barbs against former U.S. President Joe Biden.

“We didn’t change anything from the proposal on the table that [Hamas] wouldn’t accept,” he added. “There was doubt, there were people willing to make a deal with [Hamas] for 12 hostages. And I said, “No way.”

“One thing I’ll tell you: We’ll do everything to bring them all home, living and dead alike, and we’ll do everything – and we won’t give up on that – to destroy Hamas. Hamas won’t be there. Whoever committed those atrocities against the Jewish people and its state won’t be there,” Netanyahu emphasized.

Regarding plans for the future of Gaza, the premier praised President Trump’s idea to enable voluntary emigration of Gazans. “We’re working on it continuously with our American friends, and I’m telling you it’s possible – but first, we need to eliminate Hamas, and we’ll do that,” he added.

Netanyahu said he was convinced that half the population wants to leave the enclave, citing Gallup polls and Israeli surveys.

“Destroy Hamas, enable the free exit of Gazans, ensure Israel controls security – all security matters in Gaza. I’m not talking about internal governance, I’m talking against terror, and that creates a basis for something else in Gaza,” he concluded.