Australia/Israel Review

Amidst international pressure to cancel the IDF’s new Gaza offensive, called “Operation Gideon’s Chariots”, and criticism at home over the failure to reach a deal with Hamas for the release of more hostages, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held a surprise press conference, in Hebrew, for Israeli journalists on May 21 – the first in five months.

In his remarks, Netanyahu clarified his Government’s war plans, explained in three steps Israel’s new strategy for distributing humanitarian aid to Gazan civilians without it falling into Hamas’ hands and aired his view on limited hostages-for-ceasefire deals. Finally, he also set out Israel’s terms under which Hamas could end the war immediately without the need for further bloodshed.

Reiterating his war aims, Netanyahu said, “[The war] has a justified and exceptionally clear purpose: To defeat Hamas, which carried out the atrocities of October 7; to return all our hostages; and to ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.”

Netanyahu implied that, given these aims, a Hamas offer to release all the hostages in return for the war’s end would not be sufficient.

“If there is an opportunity for a temporary ceasefire to bring back additional hostages – and I want to emphasise, a temporary ceasefire – we are prepared for it,” he said.

However, he said, “The ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ operation is intended… to complete the war, to complete the mission… Our forces are seizing more and more territory to clear it of terrorists and Hamas terror infrastructure. And at the end of this process, all areas of the Gaza Strip will be under Israeli security control, and Hamas will be completely defeated.”

Netanyahu then devoted a large portion of his remarks to the humanitarian aid issue in Gaza. Given the importance of this matter, I will quote his words at length:

“In order to preserve our operational freedom of action, and to allow our very best friends to continue supporting us, we must prevent a humanitarian crisis. We said this at the start of the war as well. I hear this from Israel’s best friends – friends from the Senate, true and close friends of our country – and they tell me the following: we’re giving you full backing, we’re sending you weapons, we’re giving you support at the Security Council.

“Eliminate these monsters. Eliminate them. But one thing – one thing – we cannot accept. We cannot accept a situation of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“But on the other hand, we know – as you all know – that Hamas loots a significant portion of the aid, and it sells the rest at outrageous prices to fund its terror army. That is the money source for recruiting terrorists. We eliminate terrorists, and they recruit using the money they loot from the aid that enters Gaza.

“Therefore, in order to prevent Hamas from taking control of the humanitarian aid, we developed, together with the US, another plan – a plan for distributing basic food to civilians and children that will not reach Hamas. And it is divided into three phases. Phase A: the entry of basic food into Gaza now, to prevent a humanitarian crisis and to enable the continuation of the fighting.

“Phase B, and this will happen in the coming days, is the opening of food distribution points by American companies that will be secured by the IDF. And Phase C, during the takeover of areas in the Gaza Strip, is the creation of a sterile zone in the south of the Strip, to which the civilian population will be evacuated from the combat zones for their protection… Free of Hamas, the residents of Gaza will receive the full humanitarian aid.”

After delineating his humanitarian aid plan and the way it would work vis-a-vis the fighting involved in Gideon’s Chariots, Netanyahu then explained Israel’s terms for bringing the war to a close, a scenario where all the hostages would return home but also Hamas would surrender its weapons and leave Gaza.

“I am ready to end the war,” Netanyahu said, “under clear conditions that will guarantee the security of Israel: All the hostages return home, Hamas lays down its weapons, leaves power, and its leadership is expelled from the Strip – that is, whoever is left of it. Gaza is completely demilitarised.” Citing the views of US President Donald Trump under his “Gaza Riviera” plan announced in March, Netanyahu added that “Gaza residents who want to leave will be able to leave.”

Following Netanyahu’s prepared remarks, one of the journalists asked why “victory had not been achieved” even after a year-and-a-half of fighting.

“Why is the war in Gaza lasting so long?” the Prime Minister asked. “I’ll tell you. No army in the world has ever encountered an urban arena like this – with tens of thousands of terrorists above ground, and 50 metres below ground, with a civilian population that supports them.

“This is a new situation in urban warfare – there’s never been anything like it. Not in Fallujah, not anywhere else.

“Another thing: we had hostages. That’s also a new element. And another thing: we were under international pressure – an embargo. An embargo is no trivial matter. All of these things delayed and are delaying us.

“We don’t want to harm our hostages. We want to continue this war – and we will do it step by step… it won’t take [another] year and a half – that I promise you. I don’t want to reveal here our plans or our timetables, but we are determined to complete the defeat of Hamas, the release of all our hostages, and to bring a different future to Gaza. Otherwise, we’ll just get the same thing again and again.”

The press conference made waves in the Israeli media, because while Netanyahu often accepts interview requests from foreign media, he rarely calls press conferences for the Israeli media. His previous one was held in December 2024.

(All the quotes above have been translated into English by AIJAC staff, as an official English transcript of the press conference was not available at press time.)