Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu is offering a big cash reward and a safe way out of war-torn Gaza to push for the release of Israeli captives.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said $5 million would be paid as a reward to each captive freed from Gaza and those who help free Israelis held by Hamas would be offered a way out of the war-torn Palestinian territory. .
Netanyahu announced the reward offer during a brief visit to Gaza on Tuesday, where he was shown the Israeli military’s Netzarim Corridor – a key access route and buffer zone built by the Israeli military to separate the northern Gaza from the southern part.
“To those who want to get out of this tangle, I say: whoever brings us a hostage will find a safe way out for him and his family. We will also give $5 million for each hostage,” Netanyahu said during his brief visit to the Palestinian territory.
“The choice is yours but the outcome will be the same: we will bring them all back,” he said.
Israel estimates that 101 captives remain in Gaza, although about a third of that number is now believed to be dead.
Netanyahu’s reward offer comes as mass protests continue in Israel by prisoners’ families and their supporters who are demanding that the prime minister reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas that would allow the release of their close ones.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said that a military option is the only way to free all prisoners and that Israel’s war on Gaza will continue until that goal is achieved.
Prisoners’ families accused the Netanyahu government of not doing enough to reach a ceasefire deal, while a former Netanyahu aide was arrested on suspicion of leaking classified documents to media outlets foreigners in an apparent attempt to derail an earlier truce deal with Hamas.
Analysts say Netanyahu has continually torpedoed a possible end to the fighting in Gaza because it would likely lead to the collapse of his far-right, ultranationalist government as well as the launch of an official investigation into security failures of Netanyahu and other Israeli officials in the region. before the Hamas attack on October 7. Netanyahu is also under investigation for corruption.
Hamas has long accused Israeli ceasefire negotiators of not being serious about reaching an agreement to end the fighting in Gaza.
Describing the Israeli military as “doing a wonderful job” in Gaza, Netanyahu said Tuesday that under no circumstances would Hamas return to rule the Palestinian territory.
“Here in the central Gaza Strip and throughout the Gaza Strip, they have achieved excellent results,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement released by his office.
“And the best is yet to come.” Hamas will no longer exist in Gaza,” he said.
Last week, a special UN committee investigating Israel’s war on Gaza said Israeli policies had the hallmarks of genocide and accused the country of “using starvation as a method of war” against Palestinian civilians in the territory.
Israel inflicted “massive civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions on Palestinians,” the committee said.
“Since the start of the war, Israeli officials have publicly supported policies that deprive Palestinians of the basic necessities necessary for their survival – food, water and fuel. »
Israel’s war on the territory has killed nearly 44,000 Palestinians and injured more than 104,000 others.
Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies meeting in Rio de Janeiro also called on Monday for a “comprehensive” ceasefire in Gaza.
In a statement, the leaders expressed their “deep concern over the catastrophic humanitarian situation” in Gaza as well as their concern over “the escalation in Lebanon”, calling for a ceasefire allowing “citizens to return to safely at home” in the south and north of Lebanon. Israel.