Fighting in Gaza aims to free hostages, Herzog tells Greek PM

Speaking to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, President Isaac Herzog says that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza is intended to secure the return of remaining Israeli hostages.

“We are now pursuing military operations in order to get back our hostages,” Herzog tells the Greek leader during a meeting at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, adding that Israel is receiving “very disturbing reports about the medical situation” of hostages and that their swift return is “the highest priority of our nation.”

“It has to be clear in the family of nations that this is something that is totally unacceptable,” says the president regarding the 59 hostages still held by the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

The president addresses the need to confront rampant terrorist activity in Israel and the region, highlighting an attack in Jaffa last October in which 16 people were injured and seven people were killed, including Greek citizen Jonas Chrosis.

Hamas later claimed responsibility for the murders, saying the gunmen were members of the terrorist organization.

Mitsotakis, who also visited Israel in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion, similarly calls for the “immediate and unconditional release of all the hostages,” while also adding his “voice to those who express a sincere hope…for a new ceasefire in Gaza.”

The prime minister expresses his condolences to the parents of Chrosis, whom he says he met with in Athens, and announces a soon-to-be-opened “scholarship program honoring Jonas,” who was studying abroad at Tel Aviv University before his murder.

Signing the president’s guest book, the Greek premier writes a note expressing his desire “to underline the strategic partnership and strong ties of friendship between our people, in good times and in bad.”