Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday lauded the ceasefire agreement between his government and Hamas, calling it an achievement that secured the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza through diplomatic and military pressure.
“It wasn’t easy,” Netanyahu said in a video statement, referencing the two-year effort to secure the release of all of the 254 hostages that Hamas terrorists and their accomplices took on Oct. 7, 2023, when thousands of Gazans invaded Israel.
Under the deal, Israel is to receive, by noon on Monday, the remaining 20 living hostages and the bodies of another 28 dead ones, the prime minister said.
“This deal was never on the table, Hamas had never agreed to free all hostages while our troops were in Gaza,” he said. Hamas agreed only “after the sword was on its neck, as it still is, and only after U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan isolated Hamas in unprecedented fashion,” Netanyahu said.
He called Oct. 10, the day that the ceasefire went into effect, “a moving day, and for it I want to thank the IDF and security forces who fight on various fronts to defend our home. Without their sacrifice, we wouldn’t be getting the hostages,” Netanyahu said, adding, “We embrace the families of the fallen.”
Netanyahu thanked Trump “for his world leadership, his relentless efforts to create a framework,” adding that the American president “once again demonstrated his great friendship to our people and state.”
אזרחי ישראל,
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 10, 2025
אנחנו מציינים היום את אחד ההישגים העצומים שלנו במלחמת התקומה: השבת כל חטופינו, החיים והחללים כאחד. זהו יעד מרכזי שדבקנו בו לאורך כל הדרך.
לאורך כל השנתיים שחלפו מתחילת המלחמה הבטחתי למשפחות החטופים, והבטחתי גם לכם, אזרחי ישראל, שנחזיר את כולם, בלי יוצא מן הכלל.… pic.twitter.com/6ZbIsbGHCE
The premier also thanked Trump’s envoys to the ceasefire talks: Trump’s son-in-law and former senior adviser Jared Kushner; U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff; and Ron Dermer, Israel’s minister for strategic affairs.
Netanyahu did not mention the deal’s other terms, including the release of 250 Palestinian terrorists serving life sentences in Israel, or the IDF redeployment in Gaza, which includes pullouts from large swaths of land, leaving Israel in control of roughly 53% of the enclave.
Oct. 7, 2023, fell on Simchat Torah, a holiday that celebrates the Torah. That year, it “turned into a day of national grief,” Netanyahu said.
“This Simchat Torah will, God willing, be a day of national joy over the return of all of our abducted brothers and sisters,” Netanyahu said.
The holiday begins at sunset on Monday.
In his statement, Netanyahu also noted Israel’s devastating attacks on Hezbollah, which forced the Lebanese terrorist group to accept a ceasefire in November 2024. Netanyahu further mentioned Israel’s massive bombing campaign of Iranian regime targets during the 12-day war in June, which “lifted the ballistic and nuclear threat to our existence.”
Netanyahu said that the fortitude of the citizens of Israel allowed us to “meet difficult tests and achieve great victories that are changing the Middle East.”
He concluded: “Together, we will withstand the challenges, realize the opportunities, together complete our missions and together expand the circle of peace around us.”
Shortly before Netanyahu’s statement, the IDF announced the entrance into effect of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“The ceasefire agreement came into effect at 12:00 hours,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit wrote in the statement. At that time, IDF troops repositioned themselves according to “current deployment lines in accordance with the ceasefire agreement framework and the return of the hostages,” the statement said.
It added that IDF Southern Command troops would “continue to remove any immediate threat.”
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 10, 2025
The U.S. military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that the IDF “completed the first phase withdrawal to the yellow line at 12 p.m. local time,” Witkoff wrote on X Friday, adding, “The 72-hour period to release the hostages has begun.”
Early on Friday morning, the Israeli Cabinet approved the first stage of a U.S.-brokered plan aimed at ending the war in Gaza and securing the return of the hostages.
Netanyahu’s office said that within 24 hours of Cabinet approval, the IDF will withdraw to the “yellow line” outlined in Trump’s plan, leaving Israel in control of roughly 53% of the Gaza Strip.
Under the terms of the agreement, Hamas has committed to releasing all hostages within 72 hours.
In addition to the 250 terrorists serving life sentences that Israel agreed to free, it also said it would release 1,700 Palestinians who were detained after Oct. 7, 2023.
