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Hostages’ Return Remains Top Goal for IDF in Gaza, Katz Says
Then-Israeli transportation minister Israel Katz attends the cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Feb. 17, 2019. Katz currently serves as the foreign minister. Photo: Sebastian Scheiner/Pool via REUTERS
JNS.org – The return of the 101 hostages still held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip is Jerusalem’s “most important value goal” in the ongoing war, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated on Sunday.
“As I defined from my first day in the role, returning the hostages home is our most important value goal,” Katz declared after his first meeting with army officials at the Israel Defense Forces Intelligence Directorate’s Headquarters of the Hostages and Missing Persons. “There have never been, and never will be, political considerations on the matter,” he added.
“Every meeting with the families of the hostages and those involved in the mission to return them fills me with more motivation, and I pledge to work together with the defense establishment in every possible way to return them home,” said Katz, who took over the portfolio on Nov. 8.
During his visit, Katz received a briefing from IDF Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, head of the IDF’s Missing and Captive Soldiers Division, and Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoav Mordechai, who alongside Alon leads the intelligence efforts to return the remaining hostages.
Shortly before his Nov. 7 dismissal, then-defense minister Yoav Gallant declared that the return of the captives had become the “most important mission” for Israel Defense Forces troops in the Palestinian enclave.
The IDF will continue to put “as much pressure on Hamas as possible in order to create the conditions necessary to ensure the return of the hostages,” Gallant told troops on Oct. 30, according to a readout.
“The political echelon must do what is necessary to bring about a deal. You must apply military pressure and do what is necessary to create the conditions required for us to carry out an agreement. This is our most important mission in Gaza at this time,” said the defense minister.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Gallant’s firing on Nov. 5, citing “substantial disagreements on the management of the military campaign, disagreements which were accompanied by public statements and actions that contravened government decisions.”
Roughly 1,200 Israelis were murdered on Oct. 7, 2023, thousands more were wounded and 251 others were taken into the Gaza Strip.
On-and-off indirect talks between Israel and Hamas have dragged on for months, with the United States, Egypt and Qatar acting as intermediaries.
The Qatari-owned Al-Araby Al-Jadeed outlet cited a Hamas source as saying on Sunday that the Islamist organization’s leadership has cut all contact with those actually holding the hostages due to “strict security measures to protect the important negotiation card.”
The source added that Hamas has refused to provide information on the whereabouts and status of the hostages, in particular those with US citizenship, as it has not been offered “compensation” by mediators.
According to Hamas, the Biden administration put “intense pressure” on Qatar and Egypt in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 5 US presidential elections in an attempt to receive proofs of life.
However, Hamas said it refused the request because the Americans failed to provide “any serious indications about stopping the aggression or reaching an agreement to stop the war of extermination in the Strip.”
On Thursday, President Joe Biden met with families of American Israelis held hostage in Gaza and “reaffirmed the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to getting the hostages home to their loved ones and families,” according to Washington’s readout of the meeting.
“The administration has worked tirelessly to get a deal done as soon as possible to bring the hostages home, and the president also assured the families those efforts will continue,” the White House statement added.
Biden had raised the hostage crisis during a discussion with President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Following Thursday’s meeting, Ruby Chen, the father of hostage Itay Chen, whose body is being held in Gaza, told JNS that “the fact that there is a new administration that will put new thoughts on the table, new thinking, and I think that, by itself, is welcome progress.”
The post Hostages’ Return Remains Top Goal for IDF in Gaza, Katz Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.