Israeli premier says military action creates pressure to release hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that military action puts pressure on Hamas to release the hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu's remarks came during his meeting at his office in West Jerusalem with a delegation from the U.S. Congress including Republican and Democratic lawmakers, according to a statement from his office.

"It's very important for us to maintain bipartisan support at all times, but especially in these trying times," he said.

He alleged that "Iran officially launched along with Hezbollah a campaign, which means Hamas, the Houthis and so on, but the formal policy is to shift from an ideological position of destroying Israel to a practical, long-term plan to bring about the destruction of the state."

"We have to win. There is no substitute for victory.

"How do we achieve this victory? It doesn't nullify the other needs: How to take care of Hezbollah, how to take care of Iran, how to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons…These are big questions, but it starts with a necessary condition—and that condition is that those who launched this genocidal attack must be defeated," he added.

"Our goal is to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas in Gaza. Hamas has to be eliminated," he said.

Netanyahu pointed out that the second goal "was to get our hostages out. They are simultaneous goals, because the military action is what produces the pressure to release the hostages. We've released half. We intend to release all of them."

"The third thing is to ensure that Gaza doesn't pose a threat to Israel again."

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Palestinian territories since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas which killed around 1,200 people.

More than 32,000 Palestinians have since been killed and some 75,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.