Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Monday that “progress” was being made toward a deal with Hamas to release hostages held captive in Gaza for more than a year7xm, but dismissed pressure to act faster.
“We are taking significant actions on all levels to secure our loved ones’ release,” Mr. Netanyahu said at a hearing called by opposition lawmakers in Israel’s Parliament that he was obligated to attend. “I would like to tell you, with caution: There is some progress.”
But he added, “I don’t know how long it will take.”
Mr. Netanyahu did not provide any details about the negotiations to secure the release of about 100 people who remain captive in Gaza — about a third of whom are believed to be dead, according to the Israeli authorities. In exchange for their release, a number of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel would be freed, according to the outlines of the deal.
The Israeli leader gave three primary reasons for the progress he cited, a list that essentially served as a defense of his leadership and his prosecution of the war after more than a year of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
“First, Yahya Sinwar is no longer with us,” he said, referring to the Hamas leader who orchestrated the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and who was killed in Gaza this past October. Second, Mr. Netanyahu said, Hamas has been unable to get the help it expected from its sponsor, Iran, and an ally, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, because “they are busy licking their wounds” after Israeli attacks. Finally, he said, Hamas was weakened by Israel’s “unrelenting military pressure in Gaza.”
Calls for school crackdowns have mounted with reports of cyberbullying among adolescents and studies indicating that smartphones, which offer round-the-clock distraction and social media access, have hindered academic instruction and the mental health of children.
Overall, violent crime fell 3 percent and property crime fell 2.6 percent in 2023, with burglaries down 7.6 percent and larceny down 4.4 percent. Car thefts, though, continue to be an exception, rising more than 12 percent from the year before.
The prime minister’s pledge to secure the hostages’ release by any means necessary did little to quell the anger of opposition lawmakers, many of whom shouted over him and some of whom were ejected from Parliament during the address. Yorai Lahav-Hertzanu, a lawmaker from the centrist Yesh Atid party, was ushered out as he shouted that Mr. Netanyahu had betrayed the hostages.
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