Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he had issued instructions for negotiations to be held for the release of all hostages held in Gaza, even as he moved toward approving plans for a military offensive aimed at conquering Gaza City.
The announcement by Netanyahu came several days after Hamas said it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal that would see half of the hostages released and kick off talks to end the war and free the rest.
Though the framework was previously approved by Jerusalem, Netanyahu has since said that Israel will only agree to stop fighting as part of a comprehensive deal for all 50 remaining captives. It was unclear whether his Thursday comment marked any significant change in the state of talks.
Netanyahu delivered the statement in a pre-recorded message filmed outside the Israel Defense Force’s Gaza Division headquarters, where he was meeting with defense officials to approve plans for a military takeover of Gaza City, despite warnings that the offensive could complicate efforts to reach a deal.
“I came today to the Gaza Division in order to approve the plans that the IDF presented to me and to the defense minister for taking control of Gaza City and for defeating Hamas,” Netanyahu said in the message. “At the same time, I instructed to begin immediate negotiations for the release of all our hostages and for ending the war under conditions acceptable to Israel.”
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office told The Times of Israel shortly afterward that there were no plans “at this stage” to send an Israeli delegation for talks. A senior Israeli official later clarified anonymously that once a location for negotiations is determined, the premier will order the dispatch of an Israeli delegation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video statement at the IDF’s Southern Command on August 21, 2025. (Roey Avraham/GPO)
It was not clear whether Netanyahu’s statement was coordinated with any of the Arab mediators who are currently waiting for Israel to respond to the phased hostage release proposal that Hamas accepted on Monday.
That deal, along the lines of a proposal pushed by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, would commit the terror group to release 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 of the slain hostages, in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire and the release by Israel of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners.
Israeli military vehicles are positioned along the border with the Gaza Strip on August 21, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)
During the ceasefire, talks would begin for a permanent end to the war and the release of the remaining 22 hostages, at least 10 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Israel has yet to respond to the offer, despite the government accepting an identical framework earlier in the summer. At the same time, Netanyahu has not outright rejected the proposal — signaling that he is keeping his options open.
Hamas has long offered to free all hostages in exchange for an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, but Netanyahu has argued that this exchange would leave Hamas in power with the ability to revive itself and once again present a threat to Israel. Critics say Hamas has been defeated militarily and Israel must do everything to rescue the living hostages before it is too late, while dealing with any further Hamas threats in the future.
Shifting away from support for a partial deal, Netanyahu has insisted in recent weeks that Israel will only accept a deal for the release of all 50 hostages, and earlier this month, his cabinet approved a series of terms for ending the war that effectively amount to Hamas’s complete surrender.
Demonstrators protest for a hostage deal in Tel Aviv on August 21, 2025. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)
The conditions are the release of all remaining hostages at once, the disarmament of Hamas, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, overall Israeli security control of the Gaza Strip and the transfer of governance to a body that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas has already rejected calls to give up its weapons, and the IDF has estimated that the full dismantlement of Hamas’s terror infrastructure in Gaza will take years to complete, leading critics to accuse Netanyahu of seeking to prolong the war in order to stay in power.
“Now [Netanyahu] wants a full deal, and because it’s impossible to bring them all back — Netanyahu is getting back nothing,” Yotam Cohen, whose brother Nimrod Cohen is held hostage, told a rally outside military headquarters in Tel Aviv Thursday evening, according to the Hostage and Missing Families Forum.
Palestinians check the destruction after Israeli military strikes in a tent camp for displaced people near Al-Aqsa Hospital, in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, August 21, 2025. (AP/Jehad Alshrafi)
The premier insisted in his message Thursday that Israel was “at the stage of decisive victory.”
“These two things — the defeat of Hamas and the release of all our hostages — go hand in hand,” Netanyahu asserted.
The prime minister has claimed for some 18 months that such “total victory” was close at hand.
Earlier on Thursday, relatives of hostages held in Gaza implored the government to retreat from its war plans and instead pursue a deal to free the captives and end the war, expressing worries that ignoring the deal on the table would condemn those still held to death or to being lost forever.
Families of Israelis held hostage in Gaza at a press conference in Tel Aviv on August 21, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
“Someone who has chosen for three days now not to respond to [Hamas’s acceptance of] an agreement the government already approved, not to convene the security cabinet or the [general] cabinet, has essentially chosen to sacrifice the hostages,” said Bar Goddard, daughter of Manny Goddard, who was killed on October 7 and whose body is being held in Gaza.
In an interview broadcast on Australian television Thursday morning, Netanyahu said Israel’s plans to take over Gaza City would go ahead regardless of whether there was a truce and hostage deal.
“We’re going to do that anyway. That there was never a question that we’re not going to leave Hamas there,” he said, adding that the war “could end today” if the terror group “lays down its arms and releases the remaining 50 hostages, at least 20 of which are alive.”
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