OAN Staff Blake Wolf
12:24 PM – Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to offer Palestinians $5 million for each Israeli hostage they assist in freeing.
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Netanyahu’s announcement was made during a recent visit to the Netzarim Corridor in Gaza, where a large part of Israel’s offensive campaign took place over the past year.
The hostages were first captured during Hamas’ October 7th, 2023 attack, in which 1,200 Israelis were murdered and 251 more hostages were kidnapped.
Through previous negotiations, over 100 hostages were released, along with 37 injured hostages brought back to Israel.
However, around 100 hostages are still believed to be held in captivity in Gaza.
“To those who want to leave this entanglement I say: Whoever brings us a hostage, will find a safe way out for himself and his family,” Netanyahu stated, “We will also give $5 million for every hostage. Choose, the choice is yours, but the result will be the same.”
Netanyahu also spoke with the IDF chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, asserting that “Hamas will not rule in Gaza.”
“We are eliminating its military capabilities in very impressive fashion. We are moving on to its governing abilities, and we are not yet done. Hamas will not be in Gaza,” he continued.
Meanwhile, Israel has not revealed a potential timeline for the end of its siege in Gaza, while the families of hostages in Gaza grow impatient with Netanyahu’s strategy.
“The prime minister is trading the hostages’ lives,” stated Einav Zangauker, the mother of a hostage still being held in Gaza.
“It’s unbelievable that the man who funded Hamas is once again offering money to Hamas,” she continued, referencing a previous deal in which Israel allowed millions of dollars to flow into Gaza from Qatar with the intention of propping up Hamas, according to the Times of Israel.
“When this is the strategy of the prime minister, I understand that he has no intention to save the hostages, he’ll continue stalling, and he intends to sacrifice them and the soldiers on the altar of his political considerations,” she added.
Netanyahu has previously stated that the influx of funds sent into Gaza was meant to prevent a humanitarian disaster.
Ruby Chen, the father of American hostage Itay Chen, argued that Netanyahu’s new incentive based system “is a smoke screen and tactical but not strategic.”
Itay Chen was 19-years-old when he was captured by Hamas terrorists, and he has been held in Gaza for over a year.
“We have been failed by the Israeli government, we, as U.S. citizens, feel we’ve been failed by the Biden administration despite all of the access that they’ve provided us,” he continued.
“When was the last time you talked to your kid? Do you know where he slept last night? Do you know what he ate? Do you know if he had a blanket on him?” Chen added. “All those types of questions are questions that we ask ourselves constantly.”
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