From the Liveblog of
Monday, June 30, 2025
Ben Gvir: Hostages ‘must be released by force,’ Israel currently ‘floundering’ in Gaza
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Israel must not agree to allow Hamas to retain control of Gaza in exchange for expanding the Abraham Accords, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir declares in a message to the prime minister while speaking to the press ahead of his Otzma Yehudit party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.
“I want to address what is happening in Gaza, the negotiations that are currently underway, and present my position,” Ben Gvir states.
“I firmly oppose another partial deal… that would grant Hamas a ceasefire, that would give them unlimited supplies, international legitimacy — and most importantly: time to recover, arm themselves to harm IDF soldiers — and continue to hold some of the hostages in order to blackmail us further in the future,” he says.
“We must release the hostages, but not by neglecting the security of Israeli citizens,” he continues, arguing that they “must be released by force.”
“But under no circumstances must we allow any goal, no matter how important, to replace the ultimate goal of the war: the complete defeat of Hamas, so that no one can ever again massacre our citizens and kidnap hundreds of them,” he says. “Imagine if we had stopped the War of Independence because of prisoners, or the Six Day War.”
Directly addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ben Gvir states that Israel is “floundering in Gaza.”
“There is no policy and guidelines for a complete victory. There is no clear order for the fighters to win. I really want peace, with every country, in the region and outside the region. But I am not prepared in any way to pay for an economic peace agreement with any country by leaving Hamas in control of Gaza,” he continues. “The Abraham Accords are important, but they did not prevent the October massacre — and it is our duty to prevent the October massacre from happening again at all costs.”
Aside from Hamas, Ben Gvir claims Israel also has the challenge of maintaining a democratic system of government “in the face of a hostile attorney general and a legal system that is trying to seize power from elected officials.”
He endorses US President Donald Trump’s call to halt Netanyahu’s ongoing criminal trial.
“I am of course in favor of this, this call is justified, but a pardon is not the way, but [rather a] cancellation of the indictment. A pardon means that the accused did something and is forgiven.”
The Times of Israel Community.