Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference on November 22, 2023.
Answering more questions at tonight’s press conference, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has told the Mossad to target the heads of Hamas wherever they may be.
After a reporter mentions a (Hebrew) report asserting that Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashaal have been saying they expect to continue ruling Gaza after the war, Netanyahu says that he has “instructed the Mossad to act against the heads of Hamas wherever they are.”
Asked whether the truce applies to targeting Hamas chiefs — a presumed reference to those abroad — Netanyahu says there is “no such obligation.”
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant weighs in to say all Hamas leaders are walking dead. “They are living on borrowed time,” Gallant says of the terror chiefs. “The struggle is worldwide: From gunman in the field to those who are enjoying luxury jets while their emissaries are acting against women and children, they are destined to die.”
Netanyahu also says that Itamar Ben Gvir has the obligation to vote as he sees fit, but all ministers must accept collective responsibility once a decision is made. Ben Gvir and his Otzma Yehudit colleagues voted against the hostage deal last night.
Gallant says he hopes Israelis living more than four kilometers (nearly 2.5 miles) from the northern Gaza border will be able to return home, providing their homes are livable, at the end of December, if not before, since “the danger [in that area] is passing, given the IDF’s operations.”
Asked about missile attacks from Yemen, Netanyahu says “we are preparing to respond to all threats.”
Asked again about the danger of released Palestinian prisoners returning to terrorism, Netanyahu says Israel will go after them again if it has to.
But the question Israel faced regarding this hostage deal, he says, was “how could we pass up the possibility to bring home tens of children, mothers and women?”
He would be happier if there were no such releases of Palestinian security prisoners, but “there was no such possibility… The knife is at the throats of the children and women now, so we made a decision,” he says.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Gallant and fellow war cabinet minister Benny Gantz take a long series of questions at their press conference.
Netanyahu says he is sure Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar will try “to buy extra time” to prevent Israel resuming its Gaza operations after the hostage deal and pause. “We are prepared for other developments too,” he says.
He says he told President Biden just now, “We are taking a pause,” as agreed to in a deal that Biden was part of and initiated, “but we are continuing afterward.”
Asked about previous hostage deals, the premier says, “The greatest threat to our existence” stems from the axis of evil led by Iran and that Iran getting a nuclear weapon would pose unimaginable dangers. He says he did many things to thwart that, “some of which are connected to the deal to release Gilad Shalit,” but he cannot elaborate further.
He says you “take a chance when you free evil people” and Israel “will do everything we can so that they won’t return” to harm people.” But if the deal works, “tens of kids and their mothers and women will come home — hopefully more than 50.”
Gantz reiterates his position that the release of the hostages is an “advance objective,” while the destruction of Hamas is vital “and will take a long time.”
He says “the management of the war and the fate of the hostages and the military operation are not a reality show,” and that the cabinet discussions are serious. “Lives are at stake.”
Netanyahu declines to detail what will happen if Hamas breaches the truce. “As President Biden said to me, an enemy that holds a 9-month-old baby hostage… we know with whom we are dealing.”
Gallant says Hamas “wanted a pause to get some air while we’re pounding it daily. That’s what brought the achievement” of the hostage deal.
Asked about Hezbollah saying it is joining the truce, Netanyahu says he does not know what Hezbollah is saying, but Israel has not undertaken any obligations regarding Hezbollah and the northern front during the truce. Hezbollah will be judged by its actions, he says.
He also says, in the context of Hamas breaching the truce, that “soldiers always are obligated to deal with any threat.
Netanyahu says he is sure Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar will try “to buy extra time” to prevent Israel resuming its Gaza operations after the hostage deal and pause. “We are prepared for other developments too,” he says.
He says he told President Biden just now, “We are taking a pause,” as agreed to in a deal that Biden was part of and initiated, “but we are continuing afterward.”
Asked about previous hostage deals, the premier says, “The greatest threat to our existence” stems from the axis of evil led by Iran and that Iran getting a nuclear weapon would pose unimaginable dangers. He says he did many things to thwart that, “some of which are connected to the deal to release Gilad Shalit,” but he cannot elaborate further.
He says you “take a chance when you free evil people” and Israel “will do everything we can so that they won’t return” to harm people.” But if the deal works, “tens of kids and their mothers and women will come home — hopefully more than 50.”
Gantz reiterates his position that the release of the hostages is an “advance objective,” while the destruction of Hamas is vital “and will take a long time.”
He says “the management of the war and the fate of the hostages and the military operation are not a reality show,” and that the cabinet discussions are serious. “Lives are at stake.”
Netanyahu declines to detail what will happen if Hamas breaches the truce. “As President Biden said to me, an enemy that holds a 9-month-old baby hostage… we know with whom we are dealing.”
Gallant says Hamas “wanted a pause to get some air while we’re pounding it daily. That’s what brought the achievement” of the hostage deal.
Asked about Hezbollah saying it is joining the truce, Netanyahu says he does not know what Hezbollah is saying, but Israel has not undertaken any obligations regarding Hezbollah and the northern front during the truce. Hezbollah will be judged by its actions, he says
“We want to get all the hostages back in this deal, and maybe [more] after that” but “we’re not giving them [Hamas] an open check. When the pause is done, we resume the war. It may be that we are forced to do so much earlier.”
If there is a breach, he says, ” we won’t stand there like sheep. We will do what we can so this framework will be honored, but if it is broken, we will know what to do.”
Netanyahu again says that “the Red Cross is part of the agreement” — as agreed by Israel “and the other side.”
“So I expect the Red Cross to act according to that clause” in the deal. “Hamas might not honor it, but it is unthinkable that the Red Cross won’t demand it… If the Red Cross didn’t know — it knows now.”
