Netanyahu says rejected hostage deal requiring IDF withdrawal would have been a disaster

Netanyahu said he instead supported a strategy combining military operations with diplomatic efforts involving the United States.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he rejected a proposal in 2024 to secure the release of all hostages in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip because he believed it would have amounted to surrendering to Hamas and would have left Israel facing a greater security threat.

Speaking during a multi-front security assessment with the IDF General Staff Forum, Netanyahu said he opposed the proposal despite arguments that it represented the only way to bring home the remaining hostages.

“People thought, and they said, ‘There’s no way to get all the hostages back unless you accept Hamas’s dictate,'” Netanyahu said. “What is Hamas’s dictate? Leave the Gaza Strip, and you’ll get everyone back. They said, ‘That could be a great victory.’ I said, ‘What kind of victory is that? It’s a terrible defeat.’ They told me, ‘No, we’ll frame it as a victory.’ I said, ‘You can’t frame it as anything. It’s either a victory or a defeat. In my view, it’s a tremendous defeat.'”

Netanyahu said he instead supported a strategy combining military operations with diplomatic efforts involving the United States.

“I said the only way to achieve this was through a combination of very strong military pressure and diplomatic pressure, if we could enlist the United States. That wasn’t always easy.”

The prime minister argued that accepting the proposal would have preserved both Hamas’s leadership and the broader Iranian-led alliance while allowing them to rebuild their military capabilities.

“If we had accepted that approach, they were basically telling us: ‘We’ll leave the Strip, get all the hostages back, and then in one, two, or three years we’ll return.’ If we had done that, Deif, Sinwar, Haniyeh, Nasrallah, Khamenei, Assad—they would all still be there, with all their weapons and all their military preparations intact.”

Netanyahu said he believed the proposed agreement would have produced long-term consequences for Israel’s security, describing it as unacceptable despite the prospect of securing the hostages’ release.

“I thought it would be a disaster. But I did believe we could bring everyone back, and in the end we did it in the way that is now familiar to you.”

His remarks focused on his decision to reject the proposal and his view that sustained military pressure, combined with diplomatic engagement with the United States, ultimately achieved Israel’s objective without accepting Hamas’s conditions.