Netanyahu vows to bring hostages home at two‑year mark
On the second anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released public remarks reaffirming Israel’s determination—calling the conflict a fight for survival—and vowed to secure the return of abducted hostages. Netanyahu outlined three central aims (return all hostages, remove Hamas’s control of Gaza, and guarantee Gaza will not again threaten Israel) and noted ongoing negotiations in Egypt this week tied to President Trump’s proposed peace/hostage plan.
International
War & Conflict
📌 Key Facts
- Benjamin Netanyahu issued the statement on Oct. 7, 2025, marking two years since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.
- The article cites the IDF figure that 251 people were taken into Gaza tunnels on Oct. 7, and references talks in Egypt about returning roughly 48 hostages under a Trump plan.
- Netanyahu publicly pledged three central war aims: return all hostages (living and fallen), eliminate Hamas’s control in Gaza, and secure a permanent guarantee that Gaza will not again threaten Israel.
📚 Contextual Background
- A peace plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump called for Hamas to free all remaining hostages and for the Israeli military to begin withdrawing from parts of Gaza in phases; the plan also proposed transferring parts of Gaza to a "technocratic" Palestinian committee and deploying a temporary security force backed by Arab states.
- The proposed plan specified that Hamas would release the remaining hostages taken on October 7, 2023 within 72 hours of an agreement, and that Israel would release 250 Palestinians serving life sentences plus 1,700 other Gazans detained after the start of the conflict as part of the exchange.
- A 2025 U.S. peace plan specified that Hamas would release 48 remaining hostages, about 20 of whom were believed to be alive, within three days.
- A 2025 U.S. peace plan proposed that Hamas would give up power in Gaza and disarm as part of a settlement.
- U.S. officials in 2025 described a two-phase approach to ceasefire negotiations in which an initial hostage release would be followed by an Israeli military pullback to a previously held boundary position, while decisions about Gaza's future governing structure could be negotiated concurrently.
- When the leadership echelon of an armed group is degraded or communications are disrupted, decentralized or multiple armed actors can complicate centralized control and communication, which can make coordinated, full hostage releases difficult and lead to staged or phased releases as logistics permit.