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From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Katz: If hostages not freed soon, ‘the gates of hell will open’
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Defense Minister Israel Katz attends a state memorial ceremony for Operation Protective Edge at the National Memorial Hall at the entrance to the military cemetery on Mount Herzl on July 6, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Defense Minister Israel Katz avers that if the hostages being held in Gaza are not returned to Israel soon, “the gates of hell will open.”
In a statement from his office, Katz says that the “Sinwar brothers” — Yahya and Mohammed — “ruined Gaza,” and that Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the terror group’s new leader in Gaza, “is turning it into a sea of ruins.”
“The heads of Hamas abroad are celebrating in palaces and luxury hotels and refusing to release the hostages,” says Katz amid ongoing negotiations in Qatar over the details of a ceasefire deal. “If they won’t be freed soon, the gates of hell will open.”
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