Tel Aviv, November 20 (RHC)-- Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said $5 million will be given as a reward for each captive released from Gaza and those that help free Israelis held by Hamas will be given a way out of the war-torn Palestinian territory.
Netanyahu announced the reward offer during a brief visit to Gaza on Tuesday where he was shown the Israeli military’s Netzarim Corridor – a key access road and buffer zone constructed by Israel’s army to dissect northern Gaza from the southern part.
“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. We will also give $5 million for every hostage,” Netanyahu said during his brief visit to the Palestinian territory. “The choice is yours but the result will be the same: We will bring them all back,” he said.
Israel estimates that 101 captives remain in Gaza, although around one-third of that number are now believed to have died.
Netanyahu’s reward offer comes as mass protests continue in Israel by families of captives and their supporters who are demanding that the prime minister reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas that would see their loved ones freed. Netanyahu has repeatedly said that a military option is the only way to free all the captives and Israel’s war on Gaza will continue until that objective has been achieved.
Families of the captives have accused the Netanyahu government of not doing enough to reach a ceasefire deal while a former aide to Netanyahu has been arrested on suspicion of leaking classified materials to foreign media in an apparent bid to scuttle an earlier truce deal with Hamas.
Analysts say Netanyahu has continually torpedoed a possible end to fighting in Gaza as it would likely lead to the collapse of his far-right and ultranationalist government as well as the launch of an official investigation into the security failures by Netanyahu and other Israeli officials in the run-up to the Hamas attack on October 7. Netanyahu is also under investigation for corruption.
Describing the Israeli military as “doing a wonderful job” in Gaza, Netanyahu said on Tuesday that under no circumstances would Hamas return to govern the Palestinian territory. “Here, in the central Gaza Strip and throughout the Gaza Strip, they have achieved excellent results,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement released by his office.
