Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened a special cabinet meeting marking Jerusalem Day at the Knesset Museum in Beit Froumin with a series of announcements about Israel’s military operations.
“We eliminated Hamas’s number one, the arch-murderer al-Haddad,” Netanyahu said. “I promised we would return all our hostages—and we returned them all. Every architect of the massacre and every architect of the abduction will be eliminated down to the last one, and we are very close to completing the mission.”
Netanyahu reflected on the historic venue—the original Knesset building. “This is the second time I’ve visited here after the restoration. I think everyone who comes here feels the uniqueness of this place, which essentially served as the home for the renewal of our people’s sovereignty in our land after thousands of years. It always stirs the heart,” he said. “As a Jerusalem kid, I remember being across the street and looking at this building. It was closed then to kids like me, but today it’s open to all the people of Israel.”
The prime minister opened by sending condolences to the family of Captain Maoz Israel Recanati, who was killed in Lebanon. “Maoz left everything, left his fiancée whom he was supposed to marry in about a month, and led his fighters in battle in Lebanon and also fell. May God avenge his blood. May his memory be blessed.”
Turning to Lebanon operations, Netanyahu said Israel is “doing a lot there—capturing territory, clearing territory, defending Israel’s communities but also fighting an enemy trying to outsmart us.”
He detailed Israel’s evolving response to drone threats. “Six years ago in a cabinet meeting, I warned about the threat of drones. I saw it then primarily as a serious threat for assassinating individuals, but since then it has of course developed.” Netanyahu said he requested the IDF install canopies on tanks and convened a special team with Defense Minister and experts from inside and outside the defense establishment—”the best minds in the country, and I think the best minds in the world.”
“I told them something at the meeting we held a few days ago that surprised them a bit: ‘You have no budget constraint.’ Whatever it costs, it costs. You also have no limitation, as I know, of creativity and imagination—because you’re the best in the world,” Netanyahu said. “I have no doubt that Israel will be the first country, as we’ve done in other areas, to bring a complete solution to this problem as well.”
On Gaza, Netanyahu announced the weekend killing of Izz al-Din al-Haddad, whom he called “the arch-murderer” and Hamas’s number one in its military wing. “This despicable terrorist was responsible for the murder, injury and abduction of thousands of Israeli citizens and IDF soldiers. He used hostages as human shields, and he is no more.”
“I promised two things, and the government with me: I promised we would return all our hostages, down to the last one. Down to Israel’s hero Roni Gvili. And we returned them,” Netanyahu said. “There were doubts. We had no doubts. We returned them.”
“I promised a second thing—that every architect of the massacre and every architect of the abduction would be eliminated down to the last one, and we are very close to completing this mission as well,” he continued. “In Gaza now we’re holding not 50% anymore—already 60%. We are crushing Hamas. We know exactly what our mission is, and our mission is one—to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel, and we are also carrying out this mission with the help of our heroic soldiers. They are truly heroes. In Lebanon, in Gaza and also in the skies of Tehran. Our fighters, our pilots, our female fighters and our female pilots—heroes and heroines.”
Netanyahu concluded with Iran. “Our eyes are also open regarding Iran. I will speak today, as I do every few days, with our friend President Trump. I will certainly hear impressions from his trip to China, maybe other things too. There are certainly many possibilities. We are prepared for every scenario.”