Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday visited the community that saw the most hostages seized in Hamas militants’ 2023 attacks, promising to bring home “all” those still held in Gaza.
“I feel a deep commitment, first and foremost, to ensure the return of all our abductees, all of them,” Netanyahu told inhabitants of the Nir Oz kibbutz in filmed comments released by his office. “We will bring them all back.”
Out of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants on October 7, 2023, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Thirty people were killed and more than 75 kidnapped in Nir Oz during the attacks. Several have since died in captivity.
Netanyahu visited the kibbutz at the invitation of its inhabitants and met with survivors of the attack and freed hostages.
Nine of those seized from the community remain in captivity in Gaza, of which just four are thought to be still alive.
“You feel to the depths of your soul the magnitude of the pain, the depth of the sorrow, the trauma that befell an entire community,” Netanyahu said.
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas that could lead to the hostages’ release.
mib/rlp/ysm
© Agence France-Presse
