PM: Isolation of Hamas opens door for hostage deal; ‘total victory’ is becoming a reality

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war is succeeding because of three elements – the bravery of the soldiers, the resilience of the homefront, and his own and his government’s willingness to stand up to intense domestic and international pressure “to stop the war before we accomplished all of our goals.”

“Our actions are taking apart the axis brick by brick, and all this because we resisted, I resisted, the pressure” to halt the war prematurely, he says, and stuck to “the goals of the war until total victory.”

The goal of total victory — that “people derided,” he says — “is today becoming reality.”

Speaking about Hamas, he says the Gaza-based terror group is “more isolated than ever” after the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. “It hoped for a unifying of the fronts. Instead, it got a collapse of the fronts. It expected help from Hezbollah — we took that away. It expected help from Iran — we took that as well. It expected help from the Assad regime – well, that’s not going to happen now,” he says dryly.

“The isolation of Hamas opens another opening to making progress on a deal that will bring our hostages back,” Netanyahu says.

He promises that he and the government are “turning over every stone” to bring all the hostages home — “the living and the fallen.”

“We were here before our enemies, and we will be here after our enemies,” he says.

Israel still has “great challenges” before it, he cautions, but adds he is confident that the Jewish state will prevail.