Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, that public calls for a hostage release deal were harmful and as long as negotiations were discrete, their chances for success would grow.
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Netanyahu spoke with the families of Israelis abducted by Hamas during the October 7 massacre, and held in the Gaza for the past 117 days. He repeated comments he had made often in recent days calling for the families, many of whom are demonstrating outside his residents and private home, to consider that their actions may bring Hamas to increase their demands.
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Members of the families of hostages held in Gaza protest outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home
(Photo: Sharon Tzur)
"I ask that you understand that we are truly committed, in the full sense of the word, sincerely. This is a real effort," he said. "It is not simply for the sake of appearances, but out of our commitment to bring all the hostages, home, and I mean all of them. It is too soon to say if a deal would be made but there is a real effort, as we speak," he said.
Earlier NBC News quoted a senior Israeli official who said there were "strong indications," that an agreement that would see the release of the hostages, would be reached but added that the war cabinet had not briefed the wider forum of ministers on the terms.
While far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to leave the government coalition if a deal would be agreed that would include a long-term cessation of fighting and the release of hardened convicted terrorists from Israeli jails.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid responded by saying his party would provide the government with the support it needs to approve a deal.
Officials said on Wednesday that they were waiting to hear the response from Hamas to a proposal agreed by Israel, the U.S., France, Egypt and Qatar in a meeting in Paris on Sunday. "If they are living in a dreamland, this would not work," the officials said.