‘Hamas Can Smuggle Hostages Out of Gaza,’ Netanyahu Warns

September 6, 2024

by: Itamar Eichner ~ Ynetnews

Friday, 6 September 2024 | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said Hamas could smuggle hostages out of Gaza in tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor.

In an interview on Fox News, Netanyahu said. “To ask Israel to make concessions after this murder is to send a message to Hamas, ‘Murder more hostages. You’ll get more concessions.’ That’s the wrong thing to do.”

Netanyahu described the 14-kilometer (8.6-mi.) strip that runs along the Gaza–Egypt border as the gateway to Iran. “That presses Hamas. That prevents them from rearming. That prevents Gaza from becoming this Iranian terror enclave again which can threaten our existence,” he said. “It’s the way to prevent them from smuggling hostages that they keep through the ceasefire into Egypt, into the Sinai, where they can disappear and they’ll end up in Iran or in Yemen and they’re lost forever.”

When asked what he thinks about the four American hostage families who are pressuring US President Joe Biden to make a deal with Hamas over Israel. Netanyahu responded, “I don’t judge the families. They are going through enormous anguish. Some of them went through this horrible anguish of worrying about the fate of their loved ones to grieving about those who were murdered in cold blood. We have a responsibility both to get the hostages out, but also to prevent Gaza from becoming a terror enclave again.”

He denied his political interests played a role in his decisions. “I am not interested in my political future, I am interested in my country’s future. This war would be over yesterday if Hamas laid down its arms and released all the hostages. I would be over in two seconds. Hamas is refusing to do that. The obstacle to the end of this war is Hamas. The obstacle to the release of hostages is Hamas. The ones who butchered, murdering six people in cold blood, riddling them with bullets and then firing bullets into their heads is Hamas. It’s not Israel, it’s not me.”

Posted on September 6, 2024

Source: (Excerpt from an article originally published by Ynetnews on September 5, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

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