Washington – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that there were “strong indications” that hostages held by Hamas were at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, but they were no longer there when the Israeli military began A ground operation began there this week.
“We had strong indications that they were being held at Shifa Hospital, which is one of the reasons we entered the hospital,” Netanyahu told Norah O’Donnell, anchor and editor-in-chief of “CBS Evening News.”
“If they were [there]“They were taken out,” he said.
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Netanyahu said his government had “information about the hostages” but declined to provide further details.
“The less I say about it, the better,” he told O’Donnell.
🚨BREAKING NEWS: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu told me there are “strong indications” that some of the hostages were being held at Al-Shifa Hospital. We’ll have more of our exclusive interview on the site tonight @CBSEveningNews pic.twitter.com/xoTD4FdMZC
— Norah O’Donnell 🇺🇸 (@NorahODonnell) November 16, 2023
Israeli forces said they carried out a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specific area” of the hospital early Wednesday after warning the terror group against using the medical complex as a base. Israel has accused Hamas of having a command center beneath the hospital. Hamas has denied the accusation.
According to the Israeli Defense Forces, around 240 hostages were taken during the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants. Only four were released, including two Americans.
Israel is considering a proposal in which Hamas would release some of the women and children it is holding hostage in exchange for a ceasefire that would last between three and five days, said Margaret, CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent and anchor from “Face the Nation.” Brennan reported earlier Thursday. A number of Palestinian women and children in Israeli prisons could also be released under the proposed deal, an official familiar with the negotiations said.
Asked about the proposed deal and how close Israel is to releasing the hostages, Netanyahu told O’Donnell: “We are closer than we were before the ground operation began.” He said the ground operation had “put pressure on Hamas, to reach a ceasefire.”
“We will have a temporary ceasefire when we get our hostages back,” he said. “I don’t think it serves that purpose to elaborate.”
He declined to say whether Israel would agree to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages, saying it was “confidential.”
An agreement to release the hostage was almost reached in late October, but it was scrapped at the eleventh hour, CBS News previously reported.
Netanyahu also stressed that Israel is trying to wipe out Hamas “with minimal civilian casualties” and that it is “not trying to occupy Gaza.”
“We want comprehensive military responsibility to prevent the resurgence of terror,” he said. “We don’t want to occupy. That is not our goal. But our goal is to make sure what happens there is different. To achieve this, we must.” [do to] Demilitarize Gaza, and we must de-radicalize Gaza.”
“Just as you had to have a different future after the conquest of Germany, you de-radicalize Germany, de-Nazify it,” he said. “After the conquest of Japan, ensure that the aggressive policy of Imperial Japan is different. There has been a cultural shift that advocates funding terrorists rather than fighting terrorists.”
He said liberating Palestinians from Hamas would “give them a real future.”
When O’Donnell asked whether that also meant pushing for a two-state solution, Netanyahu said the Palestinians needed a change in leadership.
“I say the Palestinians should have all the power to govern themselves, but no power to threaten Israel,” he said. “And that means not only ensuring that Gaza is demilitarized, but also that Gaza is de-radicalized. And if you ask me, we need a different kind of civilian leadership than what is being offered to the Palestinians today.”
Netanyahu also said anyone who commits violence against innocent Palestinians in the West Bank should be held accountable.
“We detain anyone who takes the law into their own hands or commits vigilante justice: that is taboo,” he said. “We can’t accept that.”
Israel and Hamas at war
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