‘Hamas doesn't want a deal’: Netanyahu said to seek hostage release through military decision

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video statement on Sunday night following public furor over Hamas' video footage showing hostages Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David in a severely malnourished state. 

In his statement, Netanyahu said that Hamas “does not want a deal,” and that the terror group “wants to break us.” 

“Dear citizens of Israel,” Netanyahu said. “Like you, I was shocked yesterday. I saw the horror videos of our precious sons, Rom and Evyatar.”

Netanyahu also highlighted the stark contrast between the emaciated condition of the two hostages and the apparent good health of their Hamas captors.

“You see them languishing in the dungeon,” he noted. “But the Hamas monsters that surround them have thick, fleshy arms. They have everything they need to eat. They are starving them (the hostages) like the Nazis starved the Jews.” 

“And when I see this, I understand exactly what Hamas wants. It does not want a deal. It wants to break us through these horror videos, through the false horror propaganda it is spreading around the world,” Netanyahu continued.

“But we will not be broken. I am filled with an even stronger determination to free our kidnapped sons, to eliminate Hamas, to ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to the State of Israel.” 

An anonymous political source told several Hebrew news outlets that Netanyahu is trying to secure the release of the hostages “through a military decision."

"We are in dialogue with the Americans,” the source said. “The understanding is taking shape that Hamas is not interested in a deal, and therefore the prime minister is pushing for the release of the hostages through a military decision.” 

The source said the military option would be “combined with the introduction of humanitarian aid to areas outside the combat zones and as much as possible to areas outside Hamas' control.” 

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum released a statement following Netanyahu’s video to the public, blasting the prime minister for failing to secure a hostage release and for unnecessarily continuing the war. 

"Netanyahu is preparing the biggest fraud plan. The talk, which has already been heard repeatedly, about releasing the kidnapped while a decision is being made, is a fraud and a deception of the public,” read the statement. “For 22 months now, the public has been sold the illusion that military pressure and intense fighting will return the kidnapped. Even before the draft for a comprehensive agreement was written, we are already being told that an agreement is not feasible.” 

The Forum said that “expanding the war endangers the lives of the hostages, who are already in immediate danger of death. We have seen the chilling images of the hostages in the tunnels; they will not survive the long days of hell. Expanding the fighting, for the umpteenth time, is the guarantee of the failure of the century. There is neither victory nor resurrection in it.” 

The Forum also noted that IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir is opposed to continuing the war, saying the only way to victory is “the return of the 50 kidnapped men and women home, the end of the war, and the reconstruction and resurrection of Israel.”