Netanyahu: First we have to free the hostages

"First of all, we have to free the hostages," Netanyahu said during a visit to a domestic intelligence facility, according to the media. According to the "Times of Israel", his statement was interpreted by domestic media as meaning that Netanyahu is now prioritizing the return of the hostages - above everything else, such as defeating Hamas.

"Of course we must also solve the Gaza problem and defeat Hamas, but I believe that we will accomplish both tasks," Netanyahu was quoted as saying. The background to his comments is that Israel is facing increasing pressure from the USA to reach an agreement to end the war, which has been going on for more than 20 months, wrote the Times of Israel. US President Donald Trump had said that he expected a ceasefire to be reached this week.

According to Israeli media reports, Netanyahu chaired a cabinet meeting at a military headquarters on Sunday evening to discuss the war in the Gaza Strip and efforts to exchange the hostages still being held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. The meeting ended without a decision and further talks are scheduled for today, according to reports.

Also today, according to the Times of Israel, Israel's Minister for Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, will meet with US officials in Washington to coordinate with the US ahead of another round of mediation talks in Cairo on a possible Gaza agreement. Dermer will be pressured by Trump's administration to end the war in Gaza, the newspaper quoted an Arab diplomat and a US official familiar with the matter as saying. The USA, Egypt and Qatar are acting as mediators between Israel and Hamas.

Meanwhile, a group of relatives of the hostages sent an online appeal to Trump, asking him in English to do everything in his power to get the abductees back. According to official Israeli information, 22 living abductees are still being held in Gaza. For 28 others, it is now only a matter of handing over their mortal remains. The war was triggered by the attack on Israel by Hamas and other Islamist terrorist organizations on 7 October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage in Gaza.