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Middle East conflict

Israel completes bringing back first hostages, PM vows to bring back all of them

Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that Israel was committed to achieving all goals of the war

© AP Photo/ Mahmoud Illean

TEL AVIV, November 24. /TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country has completed bringing back the first hostages from captivity in the Gaza Strip, and vowed to make sure all of them come back home.

"We have now completed the return of the first of our hostages: children, their mothers and other women. Each and every one of them is an entire world," he said, according to a statement released by his office. "But I stress to you, the families of the hostages, and to you, the citizens of Israel: We are committed to the return of all our abductees. This is one of the goals of the war and we are committed to achieving all goals of the war."

Earlier on Friday, the prime minister's office said that Netanyahu, along with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, went to Israel Defense Forces General Staff in Tel Aviv to oversee the operation to bring the freed hostages to Israel.

Israeli officials previously described the two main goals of the ongoing military operation in the Gaza Strip as the release of all hostages and the complete destruction of the military and government capabilities of Hamas, which had held complete control of the enclave since 2007. Netanyahu earlier said the operation should achieve a demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, and the Israeli military must retain full security control of the enclave.

Hamas said on November 22 it had reached an agreement with Israel, which was brokered by Qatar and Egypt, to introduce a humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip for four days. The group said that the agreement involves the release of 50 women and children under the age of 19 that are held in the enclave in exchange for the release of 150 women and children under the age of 19 from Israeli prisons. The Gaza truce kicked off at 5:00 a.m. GMT.

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking more than 200 hostages, including children, women and elderly people. Hamas has cast the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and started a military operation there. Israel also strikes parts of Lebanon and Syria in retaliation for bombardments originating from these countries. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.

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