Netanyahu Talks About an Imminent Agreement and Threatens Hamas, While Hebrew Channels Reveal New Details About the Negotiations

SadaNews Translation - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this Thursday evening that Israel will return to war in Gaza if Hamas is not disarmed and its military and governmental capabilities are eliminated, should the ceasefire, indicated to last 60 days, come into effect.

This was stated in remarks at the conclusion of his visit to the United States, noting that he had agreed with U.S. President Donald Trump on several points concerning the future of Gaza and the region.

Netanyahu said, as translated by SadaNews: We are determined to secure the release of all hostages and I have communicated this to their families, informing them that we are currently seeking the release of half of the alive and dead hostages in exchange for a temporary ceasefire lasting 60 days, after which negotiations will begin to end the war permanently, achieving our goals of disarming Hamas and Gaza so that Hamas has no governmental or military capabilities. These are our fundamental conditions.

He added: If this can be achieved through negotiations, that would be great, but if it cannot be achieved through negotiations within 60 days, we will accomplish it in other ways; using force.

He continued: We said the same thing about Iran and the removal of the nuclear threat; if this is achieved within 60 days of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, that would be fantastic, but if not achieved, it will be accomplished in another way, and we have done this before.

He claimed that most of Hamas's military capabilities have been destroyed, but not all, and there are still thousands of armed militants. We want to proceed, again, with a mix of diplomacy and military might, and military power if diplomacy fails, to complete the mission.

Netanyahu said: I want to save all the hostages at once, but we are dealing with two phases here, and the choice is not always in our hands as to whom will be released first. We will do our utmost to achieve this liberation in the best possible way, but not everything is in our hands.

In a related context, the Hebrew Channel Reshet Kan reported, as translated by SadaNews, that negotiations for a ceasefire are still stagnating with no progress due to disagreements over the issue of withdrawal from Gaza and are described as stalled, needing several more days.

The channel quoted matching sources that the situation is extremely complicated and no agreements exist, which may take a few more days.

The channel also reported that Netanyahu was in constant communication with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during the former's visit to Washington.

It indicated that Netanyahu attempted to persuade Smotrich not to resign from the government and to work on resolving issues related to the agreement with Gaza.

While Smotrich confirmed that if he concludes that the agreement will harm efforts to eradicate Hamas, he will not remain in the government.