Netanyahu praises Trump for aiming hostage demands at Hamas; repeats prewar reality in north won’t resume

At a special cabinet meeting in the northern coastal city of Nahariya, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanks US President-elect Donald Trump for writing on social media that “there will be all hell to pay” if hostages held by terrorists in Gaza aren’t released by his inauguration on January 20.

“It is a very strong statement,” says Netanyahu at the opening of the meeting, “which makes it clear that there is one party responsible for this situation — and that is Hamas. Hamas must release the hostages.”

Trump, continues Netanyahu, “put the emphasis in the right place — on Hamas, and not on the Israeli government, as is customary in some places.”

Protesters and some hostage families blame Netanyahu for not doing enough to reach a deal with Hamas to get the hostages out of Gaza.

“We will continue to do everything to release them, and whoever harms them will be killed,” he threatens.

On the fragile ceasefire with Hezbollah, Netanyahu repeats the warning that the war with Hezbollah is not over.

“We are committed to a ceasefire, but we will also not tolerate violations of the ceasefire by the other side,” he says, a day after Hezbollah fired mortar shells at northern Israel and the IDF struck over 20 sites in Lebanon.

“I also say here in the clearest terms: We will not return to the situation that was on October 6, [2023],” he promises, referring to the day before the current multifront war began with Hamas’s onslaught on southern Israel.

“The north will be calm, the north will prosper, the north will flourish, and the north will be safe,” says Netanyahu.