Binyamin Netanyahu

Address to the Nation on an Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement and Hostage Exchange Deal

 delivered 18 January 2025

[As translated from the Hebrew via the Prime Minister's Facebook Account]

Dear Citizens of Israel:

On October 7, our enemies perpetrated the worst massacre against the Jewish People since the Holocaust. But amidst this terrible disaster was shown the great strength of the spirit of the people and the supreme heroism of our fighters.

It is this strength that has led us with determination to achieve all of the objectives of the war that we set: Returning all of our hostages, eliminating Hamas' military and governing capabilities and ensuring that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to our country.

In the War of Redemption, we have made it clear to our enemies and to the entire world, that when the people of Israel stand together, there is no force that can break us.

I am proud to be Prime Minister of our wonderful people. I am proud to lead our country at such times.

The Security Cabinet and the Government have approved the framework for the return of our hostages. This is the objective of the war from which we will not relent until it will be completed.

The sacred mission to release hostages has accompanied me throughout my life, from my IDF service and throughout my years as Prime Minister.

Together with you, citizens of Israel, and together with many people around the world, my wife Sara and I have hoped, prayed and worked for the return of all of our hostages. I think about them all the time.

My wife Sara has put her entire heart and soul into caring for the families and for those who have returned, and she has been working for them both at home and abroad.

I know that this concern is shared by all families in Israel. I promise you -- we will insist on all the objectives of the war. We will bring all of them back home.

As of today, we have returned home 157 of our hostages, 117 of whom alive. Under the agreement that has now been approved, we will return home another 33 of our brothers and sisters, most of them alive.

This agreement is, first of all, the result of the heroism of our fighters in combat, and it is also the result of our steadfast insistence on Israel's vital interests, in the face of heavy pressure at home and abroad.

This agreement is also the result of cooperation between the outgoing administration of President Biden and the incoming administration of President Trump.

From the moment he was elected, President Trump has been involved in the mission for the release of our hostages. He spoke with me Wednesday evening. He welcomed the agreement and rightly emphasized that the first stage of the agreement is a temporary ceasefire. That is what he said, "a temporary ceasefire."

Ahead of the next stages of the agreement, we retain significant assets in order to return all of our hostages, and in order to meet the objectives of the war.

Both President Trump and President Biden have given full backing to Israel's right to return to the fighting, if Israel reaches the conclusion that the second stage negotiations are ineffectual. I greatly appreciate this.

I also greatly appreciate President Trump's decision to lift the remaining restrictions on providing vital weapons and munitions to the State of Israel.

If we need to go back to the fighting, we will do so in new ways and with great force.

During the negotiations, I determined several basic principles:

The first principle -- Safeguarding the ability to return and fight as per need. For many months, Hamas demanded that we promise in advance to end the war as a condition for its entering a framework for the release of the hostages, and it set all kinds of additional dictated terms. I strongly opposed these dictated terms -- and my position was accepted. We retain the right to return to the war, if necessary, with the backing of the U.S. And not for nothing, all senior American Administration officials have unanimously attested that it was Hamas that hindered the negotiations.

The second principle that I insisted on, the most important principle: I significantly increased the number of living hostages that will return in the first stage....

Read the entire remarks here

Original Text Source: https://www.facebook.com/IsraeliPM/photos/statement-by-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-this-eveningdear-citizens-of-isra/1140814117408716/?_rdr

Page Created: 1/18/25

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