Netanyahu: Israel not violating ceasefire, we might need to return to war

After asking Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to refrain from clearing protesters out of the visitors’ gallery, Netanyahu denies that Israel violated the ceasefire deal with Hamas.

“According to the side letter that accompanied the agreement from the previous [US] administration, backed by the Trump administration, we have the right at any moment from Day 42 to drop out of the negotiations and return to fighting if we are under the impression that the talks are pointless,” he says.

He states that he cannot disagree with US special envoy Steve Witkoff that the sides are too far apart to move to a second phase, and that this endangers talks. “There is a proposal in front of us. We are still in the agreement, we are not violating the agreement, but we are not returning immediately to war.”

“Who knows, we might need to,” he says. “[Witkoff] offers a way to return all the hostages, in two releases.”

Addressing Hamas, Netanyahu says, “If you don’t release our hostages, there will be consequences that you can’t even imagine.”

After speaking at length about his decision to greenlight the “beeper operation” against Hezbollah, he says that this is the way his government operates: “Doing what is good for the country, at the right time and the right place.”

He calls US President Donald Trump’s plan to encourage emigration from Gaza “brave and innovative.”

“We must support it. We support it fully,” he says, asserting that tens of thousands of rich Gazans had managed to bribe their way out of Gaza. “The time has come to give them the freedom to leave. The time has come to give them the freedom to choose.”

In Syria, he says Israel’s hands are outstretched to the Druze and Kurds.

Turning to Iran, he says Israel will continue to act with determination to ensure that Iran does not attain a nuclear weapon.