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Israel’s Defense Chief Says Only Way to Free Hostages Held by Hamas Is to Keep Up Military Pressure in Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meeting with IDF commanders, including members of the elite Shayetet 13 marine commando unit, in Atlit, Israel, Jan. 17, 2023. Photo: Ariel Hermoni (Israel’s Ministry of Defense)
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday that the only way to bring the hostages held in Gaza back home is to continue Israel’s war effort against the Hamas terror group, rejecting calls for a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.
“Regarding the hostages, we have no right to stop fighting as long as there are hostages in Gaza,” Gallant told Israeli soldiers. “The only way to bring them back is via military pressure, because Hamas only responds to the use of force.”
Gallant was speaking to Israel’s elite Shayetet 13 marine commando unit in the town of Atlit, where he was hosted by David Saar Salama, commander in chief of the Israeli Navy, as well as commanders in Shayetet 13.
“We will continue fighting until we achieve victory — until we defeat the Hamas terrorist organization — removing all of its significant military and governing capabilities in Gaza,” Gallant told the gathering.
Hamas, which rules Gaza, launched the current war with its surprise cross-border invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, when the Palestinian terror group murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 240 others as hostages. Mounting evidence has revealed the terrorists perpetrated mass atrocities against the Israeli people during their onslaught, including torture and systematic sexual violence.
Israel responded with a military campaign of air strikes and ground operations against Hamas in Gaza, with the goal of freeing all the hostages and incapacitating the terror group to the point that it can no longer pose a major threat to the Jewish state.
“In northern Gaza we are dismantling their [Hamas] capabilities, dismantling their battalion frameworks,” Gallant said. “This enables an IDF [Israel Defense Forces] brigade to maneuver from place to place — Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia. The same goes for areas in the center of the Gaza strip, and we will achieve this in Khan Younis as well.”
In Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Gallant explained, “we operate in a different way. It’s a cross-stage effort [operations that take place in multiple phases of the war]. There, we focus on reaching Hamas’ leadership and on the hostage issue.”
Some 130 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza after about 100 were freed as part of a temporary Israel-Hamas truce in late November.
Israel has come under international pressure to stop its military campaign and accept a ceasefire, which critics argue would allow for a negotiated settlement to the hostage issue. Israeli leaders counter that a ceasefire would allow Hamas — whose leaders have promised to repeat its Oct. 7 massacre “again and again” — to regroup, arguing the Iran-backed Islamist terror group will only respond to strength.
“The end of this war — whenever it may be — will be based on our achievements,” Gallant said. “This will include destroying Hamas’ ability to operate with military and governing capabilities. We will maintain freedom of operation.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed similar sentiments on Wednesday.
“The war continues, and it will continue until the end, until we complete all our goals: the return of the abductees, the elimination of Hamas, and the assurance that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel,” he said during a visit to the Nabatim air force base in southern Israel. “Let there be no mistake: We will persist in the fight on land, at sea, and in the air until complete victory.”
The post Israel’s Defense Chief Says Only Way to Free Hostages Held by Hamas Is to Keep Up Military Pressure in Gaza 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.