Israeli leaders welcome release of hostage soldiers as some call to resume fighting
Lawmakers denounce ‘sickening show’ after Hamas forces the 4 women onto a stage in Gaza City; opposition says deal must not be broken before all captives are freed
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter

Israeli leaders and politicians stressed on Saturday the urgent need to bring home all remaining hostages from Gaza, as they welcomed the return of IDF surveillance soldiers Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, and Liri Albag, at the start of the second week of the hostage release-ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Following their return to Israel on Saturday morning, Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed that Israel would not rest until it brings home the other 91 hostages — alive and dead — while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who voted against the deal and supports a resumption of fighting, said the entire country was “working together” to free the captives.
Members of the opposition, meanwhile, warmly welcomed the return of the hostages but urged the government to complete the entire deal with the Hamas terror group, including the yet-to-be-negotiated second phase, and to ensure that it does not collapse before all the hostages are freed.
Even as they welcomed the return of the women, seized from the Nahal Oz military base amid the October 7, 2023, terror onslaught, Israeli leaders fiercely condemned Hamas for having paraded them in front of a crowd in the center of Gaza City before releasing them.
The four were forced to get up onto a stage in Gaza City’s Palestine Square where they smiled and waved to the large crowd that Hamas had assembled below before they were handed over to the Red Cross.
Ariev, Gilboa, Levy and Albag were the second group of hostages to be released during the first, 42-day phase of the ceasefire deal, after Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher were released last Sunday. In total, 33 hostages will be released during the first phase, and another 65 will be released in the following stages of the agreement.

There is, however, heavy pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from Smotrich and members of his own Likud party to resume the fighting against Hamas after the first stage is complete, even though doing so would thwart the release of the remaining hostages,
Following the release of the four surveillance soldiers, Defense Minister Katz vowed that Israel would “not rest” until it succeeds in its mission to return all the hostages.
“An entire country is moved and embraces you, and salutes the families,” said Katz.

“We will not rest or give up and will do everything we can until all the hostages come home, those who are alive and those who are not, to Israel.”
Smotrich, who heads the Religious Zionism party, warmly welcomed the returned hostages, saying the entire country was moved by their return.
The far-right minister voted against the hostage deal, but did not quit the government over it, although he has threatened to do so if it continues past the end of the first phase.
“Beloved Liri, Daniella, Karina and Naama, the entire people of Israel are moved by your return. We embrace you and love you,” said the finance minister. “We are all praying and working together for everyone’s return.”
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said the four soldiers had stood strong “in the face of evil,” apparently in reference to the manner in which Hamas paraded them in Gaza City before releasing them.
“In the face of evil — four heroes stood upright, and with pride and faith,” said the minister.
“What great happiness to see our four daughters returning home… Blessed is He who releases captives,” he continued, adding that he was sending his support to the families of surveillance soldier Agam Berger, and civilian Arbel Yehoud — both of whom are still held hostage — and to all the other families whose loved ones are still in captivity.
“Be strong, we will bring everyone home, God willing,” said Karhi.

Settlements and National Missions Minister Orit Strock denounced the “sickening show” that Hamas put the four soldiers through before releasing them, and warned that if the country “does not come to our senses, Hamas will return to reestablish its terror empire in the [Gaza] Strip and these terrible images will repeat themselves over and over again.”
Leader of the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party Itamar Ben Gvir, who resigned from the government last week in protest of the hostage deal, expressed happiness over the return of the four young women, but again voiced criticism of the ceasefire, and the manner in which Hamas treated the hostages before giving them over to the Red Cross.
“The eyes weep from happiness with the return of Daniella, Naama, Karina, and Liri, but the heart contracts with the footage that humiliates the State of Israel, in light of the irresponsible deal,” said Ben Gvir.
He insisted that the fighting in Gaza must resume in order to “destroy Hamas,” and avoid future attacks by the terror group, even though doing so would mean abandoning the subsequent phases of the agreement.
“We must return to the war. And destroy,” said Ben Gvir.
In contrast to Ben Gvir, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said that the entire deal must be completed “in all its stages,”
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said that the entire deal must be completed “in all its stages,” echoing fears by hostages’ families that the agreement will collapse before the second phase.
“It is forbidden to stop until the deal is completed in its entirety, in all its stages. Until Arbel and all the hostages come home. Everyone, until the last one,” insisted Lapid.

National Unity party chair Benny Gantz expressed a similar sentiment in his message welcoming the four young women home.
“We must bring back [surveillance soldier] Agam Berger, Arbel Yehoud, Shiri Bibas, and all the hostages,” said Gantz.
“This is the responsibility of the government of October 7, and this is the moral obligation of us all,” he continued, while also lamenting the failures in the lead-up to October 7, among which was a failure by senior IDF leadership to listen to surveillance soldiers warning that Hamas was planning something on the Gaza border.
“The surveillance soldiers at the outpost were our eyes which saw, but did not find an attentive ear,” said Gantz. “They are the story of the failure which must be fully investigated.”
Gantz also praised the strength of their parents who as a group “united from the first moment” to work tirelessly for the release of their daughters.
“It’s impossible not to shed a tear and to rejoice when you see the happiness of Shira and Eli, Ayelet and Yoni, Albert and Ira, Orly and Ran,” said Gantz of the four soldiers’ parents.