Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the government meeting together with President Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and with the President’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner (Photo by Ma’ayan Toaf \/ GPO)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Kushner and Witkoff said this at a joint conference in Jerusalem with Netanyahu and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, shortly after the Jewish state\u2019s Cabinet voted in favor of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal that would return to Israel 20 living hostages taken to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, and the bodies of about 30 others.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, bringing the hostages home has been a priority for President Trump for a very, very long time and we\u2019ve all worked very tirelessly to do that,\u201d said Kushner, a former senior adviser to Trump who has been working on the agreement alongside Witkoff, Trump\u2019s Middle East peace envoy.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I really want to say that this all would not have been possible without the bravery of the IDF and the soldiers, what they\u2019ve accomplished not just in Gaza, but also what they\u2019ve done in the theater over the last couple of years to eliminate Hezbollah in the north and really degrade them, which you were able to do in Iran and really set a big tone,\u201d Kushner added.<\/p>\n
Kushner said he wanted \u201cto just give a very, very special thanks to Prime Minister Netanyahu, who did an incredible job with this, did a great job in the negotiations.\u201d Turning to Netanyahu, he said: \u201cYou held your lines firm\u201d and that Netanyahu and Trump \u201chad a lot of alignment on what the end state should be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Witkoff imparted similar praise on Netanyahu, noting that the Israeli leader needed to determine \u201chow tough to be with Hamas, when to be flexible, when not to be flexible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Witkoff added, \u201cI think to myself all the time, I lost sleep over it. What would I have done in some of those circumstances? There were times that I thought we should be more flexible, or your country should be more flexible. But the truth is, as I look back, I don\u2019t think we get to this place without Prime Minister Netanyahu.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu thanked Trump and Dermer, who worked with the U.S. negotiators, as well as Kusher and Witkoff, \u201cand the courage of our soldiers who entered Gaza and the combined military and diplomatic pressure that isolated Hamas,\u201d which \u201chas brought us to this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump announced on Thursday a ceasefire in Gaza, saying: \u201cWe are getting the hostages back on Tuesday.\u201d<<\/p>\n
On Friday, Israel\u2019s Kan <\/em>public broadcaster published a document titled \u201cImplementation Steps for President Trump\u2019s for a comprehensive end of Gaza War,\u201d which the television station said had been signed by U.S., Israeli and Hamas representatives.<\/p>\nThe document\u2019s content resembles the 20-point plan released by the White House last month. It said the hostages would be released within 72 hours of Trump\u2019s announcement, and that the IDF would withdraw in the Gaza Strip from certain areas within 24 hours of it.<\/p>\n
It also states that the flow of aid supplies to Gaza would be boosted after those 72 hours and that Israel would release Palestinian prisoners. Hamas reportedly has secured the release of hundreds of them, including Palestinians serving life sentences for murdering Israelis.<\/p>\n
Calls for vigilance<\/strong><\/p>\nLikud lawmaker Ariel Kallner told JNS, \u201cThis hostage deal is not contingent on Israel returning to the pre\u2013Oct. 7 border with Gaza as Hamas had demanded, and that\u2019s a major achievement for us. Until now, Hamas insisted that Israel\u2019s full withdrawal to the Oct. 6 lines be a condition for releasing the hostages.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis achievement would not have been possible without our soldiers\u2014our heroes\u2014those who lost their lives and those who were wounded; without the strength of our leadership; and without President Trump, who applied pressure not only on Israel, as the international community has done, but also on evil\u2014on Qatar and on Hamas,\u201d added Kallner.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe price remains very high for us,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe are releasing 250 murderers from prison to bring our citizens home. We\u2019ll have to consider how to prevent such situations in the future. But in our war with Hamas, we have now reached a strategic turning point, because Hamas is about to lose its \u2018nuclear weapon.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Kallner cautioned against trusting Hamas to uphold its end of the agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still dealing with an enemy that has violated every international law and lacks any sense of humanity,\u201d he said. \u201cTwo years after Oct. 7, the elimination of Hamas\u2014as a military, civilian and organizational force\u2014remains essential. Without that, there can be no security or stability.\u201d<\/p>\n
National Unity lawmaker Pnina Tamano-Shata told JNS that the agreement marked a \u201cdeeply emotional day\u201d for the people of Israel, both in the country and throughout the Diaspora.<\/p>\n
\u201cA day when, after two long years since our brothers and sisters were cruelly taken from us in the horrific massacre, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlongside the joy, there is also profound sorrow, as 28 of the 48 abductees are no longer alive,\u201d she continued. \u201cI sincerely hope we will succeed in bringing home all of the deceased as well\u2014including those whose whereabouts Hamas claims it no longer knows. They must be given a proper burial and their families must have the closure they deserve to mourn with dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tamano-Shata praised the international effort that led to the current agreement. \u201cThe return of the abductees is our supreme moral compass,\u201d she said. \u201cAs a state committed to its citizens, we have a responsibility to pursue every possible deal, even when the price is as painful as releasing thousands of murderers with blood on their hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
She emphasized the need for continued vigilance.<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether with the international force led by President Trump, we must ensure that the agreement is fully implemented and that Hamas is disarmed so it can no longer threaten the State of Israel,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the end, Hamas remains a murderous terrorist organization that slaughtered thousands of Israeli civilians in their homes and at celebrations,\u201d Tamano-Shata added. \u201cIt violated the ceasefire before Oct. 7 and ignited the war on Oct. 7. We will never forgive this, and we will never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n
Likud Knesset member Tally Gotliv told JNS she \u201cwill not celebrate prematurely until I see the release of all our hostages. I do not trust Hamas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only reason this agreement is being negotiated is because Qatar, Turkey, Egypt and other regional players, including Saudi Arabia, see economic incentives and have conveyed those interests to the United States,\u201d said Gotliv.<\/p>\n
She said sustained IDF operations inside Gaza City, a Hamas stronghold, have helped create domestic pressure in the Strip to push toward a deal to free all the hostages.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we have an obligation to bring every hostage home\u2014and that is the precondition for everything\u2014we are paying an extremely high price, and we must pay it because the hostages were kidnapped on the state\u2019s watch. The state must return all its citizens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She also warned decision-makers to remain vigilant. \u201cI urge intelligence and military leaders to abandon any dream that peace has arrived and to remember that our cruel, murderous enemies\u2014Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the various factions of the Muslim Brotherhood\u2014do not merely seek to spread radical Islam. Above all, they aim to eliminate the Jewish-Zionist vision and ethos,\u201d Gotliv said.<\/p>\n
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