IDF says chief war goal is return of hostages, contradicting Netanyahu’s position
Destroying Hamas’s rule in Gaza is second on military’s list of priorities, official says, after premier describes ‘victory’ over terror group as supreme goal
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Israel Defense Forces sees the return of the 59 hostages still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip as the most important goal of the war, contrary to the position of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Thursday that “victory” over the terror group, not the return of the captives, was the supreme objective.
“The supreme mission that the IDF is dealing with is our moral duty to return the hostages. The second mission is defeating Hamas. We are working to advance both goals, with the return of the hostages being at the top [of the list of priorities],” said a military official who briefed reporters earlier this week.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who entered the role two months ago, has said on several occasions that returning the hostages is his top priority. His predecessor Herzi Halevi also said that returning the hostages is a more urgent matter than other goals.
“Hamas is mistaken about our determination to return the hostages and defeat it. Both tasks involve each other. We will increase our activities until both tasks are completed,” Zamir said at a Memorial Day ceremony on Tuesday night.
Israeli officials have repeatedly warned that if no hostage deal is reached soon, the military would launch a major offensive aimed at defeating Hamas.
The military has been gearing up for an intensified offensive that would see the call-up of a large number of reservists and troops operating in new areas of Gaza, according to the IDF.
The IDF has said that calling up reservists was being carried out solely out of “practical and operational interests,” amid mounting letters signed by veterans calling for a hostage deal with Hamas, even if it comes at the cost of ending the war.
Three IDF divisions are currently operating in Gaza, in an offensive that the military has said is aimed at pressuring Hamas back into a hostage deal, and not destroying the terror group.
The military official acknowledged that “despite the military pressure being exerted, the Hamas terror organization remains unwilling [to agree to a deal].”
Netanyahu’s remarks on Thursday came as hostages’ families in recent days accused the premier of sabotaging a potential truce-hostage deal and withholding information about the remaining 59 captives.
“There are another up to 24 alive, 59 total, and we want to return the living and the dead,” said the premier, whose wife on Monday said the number of living hostages was lower than the official figure cited by her husband.
“It’s a very important goal,” Netanyahu continued, but then added, “The war has a supreme goal, and the supreme goal is victory over our enemies, and this we will achieve.”
Netanyahu hitherto highlighted the destruction of Hamas, the return of all the hostages, and ensuring that Gaza cannot constitute a future threat to Israel as the three goals of the war, without ranking these goals. He has also repeatedly stressed that the war will continue until “absolute victory” is achieved.
His comment sparked outrage among hostages’ families, with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum accusing him of “falling in line” with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who last week triggered a fierce backlash when he said that “the hostages are not the most important thing” in the war effort.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has repeatedly assailed Netanyahu for refusing to end the war in Gaza as part of a deal with Hamas to free the captives. Israel rejected one such offer this week. Smotrich and fellow far-right minister Itamar Ben Gvir have threatened to topple the government if Israel ends the fighting in Gaza.
Ben Gvir had temporarily quit the government after Israel in January signed a truce-hostage deal that saw Hamas release 33 women, children, civilian men over 50 and those deemed “humanitarian cases,” in exchange for some 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, including over 270 serving life terms in connection with the murders of dozens of Israelis.
The deal’s 42-day first phase expired on March 2 amid Netanyahu’s refusal to negotiate the potential second phase, which would have required a full IDF withdrawal from Gaza. Israel renewed its attacks in the Strip on March 18, after which Ben Gvir returned to the government.
The deal’s second phase would have seen Hamas release 24 hostages still thought to be alive — all of them young men abducted on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza. Terror groups in the Strip are also holding the remains of at least 35 hostages, including a soldier killed fighting in the 2014 Gaza war.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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