Senior government officials say they are determined that all of the some 240 people kidnapped on Oct. 7 will be returned home; opposition leaders also welcome release
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, war cabinet minister Benny Gantz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant welcomed the Friday release of the first group of 13 Israeli hostages as part of a deal with the Hamas terror group, but vowed that all those abducted to the Gaza Strip would be returned home.
Four Israeli children and nine women were released 49 days after they were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and Kibbutz Nirim during the devastating onslaught by terrorists on October 7.
In a separate agreement, mediated by Egypt and Qatar, 10 Thai nationals and one Filipino were also released.
“We have now completed the return of the first of our hostages — children, their mothers and other women. Each and every one of them is an entire world,” Netanyahu said.
“But I stress to you, the families of the hostages, and to you, the citizens of Israel: We are committed to the return of all our abductees,” Netanyahu said. “This is one of the goals of the war and we are committed to achieving all goals of the war.”
Gallant wrote on X that “we have taken an important first step — we will continue and do everything necessary to return the hostages home.
“This is our duty for the hostages, for their family members and for the State of Israel,” he said.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid also welcomed the return of the hostages, and vowed that those still held in the Gaza Strip would come home.
“The children shall return to their borders. Welcome home,” Lapid wrote on X. “A whole nation was waiting for you with bated breath. We will not be silent or rest until the return of all the hostages to their homes and families.”
Labor party leader Merav Michaeli wrote: “The first moment of comfort since 7/10. We will not give up until we bring all the hostages home.”
Some 50 hostages — children, their mothers and other women — are set to be freed over four days, during which the IDF is halting its military campaign to destroy Hamas in Gaza, with three Palestinian security prisoners to be freed in exchange for each hostage.
The four-day truce can potentially be extended for one extra day for each group of 10 more hostages freed by Hamas.
The released hostages are only a small group out of the some 240 held by Gaza terrorists since October 7, when 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians among unimaginable acts of brutality.
Content retrieved from: https://www.timesofisrael.com/pm-ministers-welcome-release-of-13-hostages-vow-to-free-all-those-still-in-gaza/.