Netanyahu: Fighting Hamas ‘does not delay the deal, it advances it’

The Israel Defense Forces’ ongoing operations against the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip will help advance a hostages-for-ceasefire deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Thursday.

“The military pressure they are exerting right here, at Hamas’s throat, along with standing firm on our just demands, helps us advance the hostage deal,” Netanyahu said during a visit to Rafah in Gaza.

The continuing military campaign in the coastal enclave will help realize “our demand to release a maximum number of hostages already during the first stage,” Netanyahu said in remarks following the visit, adding, “This double pressure does not delay the deal—it advances it.”

The premier toured parts of Gaza’s southernmost city together with his chief of staff Tzachi Braverman, military secretary Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman and Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi.

Netanyahu said that seeing the troop’s achievements in Rafah reinforced his “understanding that their massive action, above and below ground, is essential for Israel’s security.”

He also said the visit helped strengthen his position that Jerusalem should retain control of the Rafah Border Crossing and the Philadelphi Corridor, using the IDF’s name for Gaza’s 8.5-mile border with Egypt.

“Next week, I am going to the United States to address both chambers of Congress. I am going to present Israel’s righteousness, but I am also going to show the Israeli heroism that I see here,” said Netanyahu.

Netanyahu’s visit to the former Hamas stronghold came as an Israeli delegation traveled to Egypt this week for more indirect talks with the terrorist group.

Earlier this week, Israeli diplomatic sources told reporters that despite the Gaza strike targeting Hamas terror commander Mohammed Deif, negotiations for a truce and the release of captives would continue. (While his deputy was killed in the attack, Deif’s fate remains unclear.)

According to the Lebanese Al-Akhbar daily, which is close to Hezbollah, Israel informed Cairo that it would not halt IDF military operations until there was a deal and that “the targeting of Hamas leaders inside Gaza will continue even while negotiations continue.”

The New York Times said on Monday that several points of contention remained, including Hamas’s demands that Israel permanently end the war and withdraw from strategic areas, including the border with Egypt.

However, in private discussions with Cairo, Israel has indicated that Jerusalem might be willing to withdraw if Egypt agreed to measures that would prevent arms smuggling along the frontier, the report cited two Israeli officials and a senior Western diplomat as saying.

Netanyahu has publicly stressed that “in every scenario,” Israel will continue to control the Rafah Crossing and Philadelphi Corridor.

The premier’s stated red lines include the ability to resume fighting in Gaza until all war goals have been met; an end to arms smuggling from Egypt; no return of “thousands” of Hamas terrorists to the enclave’s north; and maximizing the number of living hostages released.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu told opposition lawmakers at the Knesset, “We are determined to win the war. We are determined to return all our hostages. The key is pressure, pressure and more pressure.”

Of the 120 hostages remaining in the Strip, 116 were abducted during the Oct. 7 Hamas-led massacre (the other four were captured earlier). The figure includes both living and deceased men, women and children.

At least dozens of the remaining hostages are believed to be alive, a senior Israeli official involved in the negotiations told AFP last month.