Netanyahu: Israel will enforce ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon ‘with an iron fist’

Israel is determined to enforce the ceasefire agreements in Gaza and Lebanon “with an iron fist,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says in an address to the Knesset plenum, adding “of course, only as long as they exist.”

“You can see what is happening every day in Lebanon,” he says of near-daily Israeli strikes against Hezbollah.

Netanyahu says that military pressure on Hamas and the IDF operation in Gaza City “along with the addition of diplomatic pressure to isolate Hamas that was applied by the US, this combined pressure allowed us to bring home all the living hostages, and the vast majority of the fallen hostages.”

“We prevented a grievous surrender” by not giving in to domestic and international pressure, argues Netanyahu, accusing the opposition of pushing for a deal that would have amounted to a capitulation to Hamas. “Doing it your way, [the hostages] would not have come back, but worse than that, Hamas would be preparing for the next kidnappings,” he tells the opposition.

Israel “is determined to bring back the four slain hostages left in Gaza,” he promises, naming the three Israelis but not the slain Thai citizen.

Critics, including the families of hostages, have argued that a deal for the release of all hostages could have been agreed earlier, saving the lives of many hostages who were killed in captivity.