Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that the IDF would soon launch a military operation in Rafah as he vowed to free the remaining 133 hostages held in Gaza, in a special address to the nation in advance of Passover, which begins on Monday night.
“In the coming days we will increase the military and political pressure on Hamas because this is the only way to free our hostages and achieve our victory,” Netanyahu said on Sunday.
“Until now, all proposals for the release of our hostages have been rejected by Hamas outright,” Netanyahu explained as he blamed the terror group for the failed talks for a hostage deal.
Increasing pressure on Hamas to return hostages
“Instead of withdrawing from its extreme positions, Hamas is counting on a rift among us. It draws encouragement from the [international] pressure being directed at the Government of Israel,” Netanyahu stated.
“As a result of this, it has only hardened its conditions for the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu said.
In light of the international pressure on Israel for a unilateral Gaza ceasefire that is divorced from a hostage release, Israel has very few pressure levers to free the hostages, short of a Rafah operation.
In language reminiscent of the Passover story in which Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to allow the Jewish slaves to leave Egypt, Netanyahu said that Hamas was “hardening its heart and refusing to let our people go.”
“Therefore, we will strike it with additional painful blows – and this will happen soon,” Netanyahu vowed.
He spoke as Jews around the world prepared to celebrate Passover, also known as the festival of freedom, while all efforts for a hostage deal appeared to have failed as Israel marked 198 days since the captives were seized during the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on October 7.
Israel’s war to destroy Hamas in Gaza, which began on that day, has not led to a decisive victory, and there did not appear to be any way to end the IDF’s cross-border violence with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
It remains unsafe, therefore, for over 100,000 evacuees to celebrate the family holiday in their homes along the country’s southern and northern borders. In the worst case scenarios, the homes have been destroyed by Hamas or Hezbollah.
Hostage families send letter to government
On Sunday night the war cabinet convened, as Netanyahu is hearing increasing criticism for failing to end the war and secure a deal to free the hostages. Just one day earlier the Hostage and Missing Families Forum sent a letter to the cabinet asking to meet before the holiday to receive a “shred of hope” regarding the fate of their relatives in Gaza.
“It’s been [close to] 200 days in which nothing is the same, and for us, the families of the hostages and the kidnapped, the situation is getting worse from day to day,” the forum wrote.
“The Festival of Freedom will not be celebrated this year in the State of Israel. Freedom is not possible when 133 members of our people and our country are still captive,” it stressed.
“We demand to hear from you directly .. what the Israeli government’s priorities are – half a year after the start of the war.
“Are the negotiations still ongoing? When are our loved ones expected to return from hell and what are you doing every day, and every hour, to bring them back?” the forum asked.
From the protest site at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv to the President and Prime Minister’s Office, activists and officials focused on the symbol of the empty chair at the Seder table, to symbolize those who were missing.
Herzog over the weekend asked the public to place an extra seat at their table. The PMO on Sunday night unveiled an “empty chair campaign” with a video designed for an American audience that ended with the words, “Let our people go.”
In addressing a disheartened nation on Sunday, Netanyahu referred to one of the central opening questions of the Passover Haggadah, as he acknowledged that what was different this year was that 133 hostages were missing from their family’s Seder tables.
“On this Seder night, our hostages being held by Hamas are before our eyes. Their suffering and the suffering of their families rend our hearts and only strengthen our resolve to bring them back,” he said.
What is not different, is that this Passover, as in my past generation, Israel’s enemies “rise up to destroy us.”
He pledged that “we will overcome those who seek our lives – thanks to the faith of our people, the daring of our fighters, and the unity among us.
“We are not relenting, not even for a moment, from our sacred mission to return them home,” Netanyahu stated.
Minister Benny Gantz, who is a member of the war cabinet, said in a brief address to the public, that it was true that the government had not completed its goal of freeing the hostages and returning the evacuees home.
“We haven’t succeeded yet – but we really haven’t given up. And we will never give up,” Gantz stated.