Netanyahu to Hamas: Free the Hostages and We Will Let You Live

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday evening that Hamas terrorists who freed Israeli hostages would be allowed to live, but that those who sought to harm them would be hunted down and killed. He added that the war in Gaza would end if the hostages were freed and Hamas terrorists laid down their weapons.

Netanyahu published a video address in English, hours after Israel confirmed that its soldiers had killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza in a firefight on Wednesday. He addressed his nation in Hebrew a few hours before.

The full transcript of Netanyahu’s remarks was published by Israel’s Government Press Office:

One year ago, Yahya Sinwar, the terrorist chief of Hamas, launched the October 7th massacre against Israel.

It was the bloodiest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. It was the worst attack on the Jewish state since the founding of Israel.

Sinwar’s terrorists murdered in cold blood 1,200 people. That’s elderly people, Holocaust survivors, children.

They brutally raped women. They beheaded men. They burned babies alive.

And they took 251 women, men and children hostage to the dungeons of Gaza.

Today, the mastermind of this day of sheer evil is no more.

Yahya Sinwar is dead.

He was killed in Rafah by the brave soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces.

While this is not the end of the war in Gaza, it’s the beginning of the end.

To the people of Gaza, I have a simple message: This war can end tomorrow. It can end if Hamas lays down its arms and returns our hostages.

Hamas is holding 101 hostages in Gaza, who are citizens of 23 countries; citizens of Israel, but citizens of many other countries.

Israel is committed to doing everything in our power to bring all of them home.

And Israel will guarantee the safety of all those who return our hostages.

But to those who would harm our hostages, I have another message: Israel will hunt you down and bring you to justice.

I also have a message of hope to the peoples of the region: The axis of terror that was built by Iran is collapsing before our eyes.

Nasrallah is gone. His deputy Mohsen is gone. Haniyeh is gone. Deif is gone. Sinwar is gone.

The reign of terror that the Iranian regime has imposed on its own people and on the peoples of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen – this too will come to an end.

All those who seek a future of prosperity and peace in the Middle East should unite to build a better future.

Together, we can push back the forces of darkness and create a future of light and hope for all of us.

Netanyahu’s message that the war could end if Hamas released the hostages and laid down its arms has been a consistent one for months. But the explicit offer to those holding Israeli hostages — now without the direction of  Sinwar’s leadership — was new.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days , available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency , now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.