Netanyahu says returning Gaza hostages will take 'a bit more time'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, June 22, insisted gains in the conflict against Iran would help with the country's war footing in Gaza and bringing the hostages home but said "more time" was needed.
"We are getting closer, step by step, to our objectives: defeating Hamas and bringing our hostages home... I am convinced that the operation in Iran is helping us achieve our objective in Gaza," said Netanyahu.
"Our successes in Iran are contributing to the successes in Gaza, but it will still take a bit more time," added the Israeli premier.
They were constantly acting on several fronts, he added, "...but we are getting closer, step by step, to our objectives: defeat Hamas and bring back our hostages."
The Israeli military said Sunday that it had recovered the bodies of three hostages in Gaza more than 20 months after they were abducted by Hamas militants.
Of the 251 hostages seized during the assault, 49 are still held in the Palestinian territory, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israelis demonstrate regularly to pressure the government to do more to bring the hostages home and Netanyahu has been criticized for what some say is a lack of progress.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Iran says US will 'receive a response' after strikes on nuclear sites
Iran on Sunday threatened US bases in the Middle East after massive air strikes that Washington said had destroyed Tehran's nuclear program, though some officials cautioned that the extent of damage was unclear. International concern focused on fears that the unprecedented US attacks would deepen conflict in the volatile region after Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran earlier this month. Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said bases used by US forces could be attacked in retaliation. "Any country in the region or elsewhere that is used by American forces to strike Iran will be considered a legitimate target for our armed forces," he said in a message carried by the official IRNA news agency. "America has attacked the heart of the Islamic world and must await irreparable consequences." 03:37 President Donald Trump urged Iran to end the conflict after he launched surprise strikes on a key underground uranium enrichment site at Fordo, along with nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Natanz. "We had a spectacular military success yesterday, taking the 'bomb' right out of their hands (and they would use it if they could!)" he said on social media. And while the US president did not directly advocate regime change in the Islamic republic, he openly played with the idea -- even after his aides stressed that was not a goal of American intervention. "It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. "But if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!" Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Pentagon press briefing earlier that Iran's nuclear program had been "devastated," adding the operation "did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people." Standing beside Hegseth, top US general Dan Caine said that while it would be "way too early" for him to determine the level of destruction, "initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction." Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile said his country's military strikes will "finish" once the stated objectives of destroying Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities have been achieved. "We are very, very close to completing them," he told reporters. Tehran protests As Iran's leaders struck defiant tones, President Masoud Pezeshkian also vowed that the United States would "receive a response" to the attacks. People gathered Sunday in central Tehran to protest against US and Israeli attacks, waving flags and chanting slogans. 07:43 In the province of Semnan east of the capital, 46-year-old housewife Samireh told AFP she was "truly shocked" by the strikes. "Semnan province is very far from the nuclear facilities targeted, but I'm very concerned for the people who live near," she said. In an address to the nation hours after the attack, Trump claimed success for the operation, and Vice President JD Vance followed up Sunday morning. "We know that we set the Iranian nuclear program back substantially last night," Vance told ABC. But he also suggested Iran still had its highly enriched uranium. "We're going to work in the coming weeks to ensure that we do something with that fuel," he said. "They no longer have the capacity to turn that stockpile of highly enriched uranium to weapons-grade uranium." Another Khamenei advisor, Ali Shamkhani, said in a post on X that "even if nuclear sites are destroyed, game isn't over, enriched materials, indigenous knowledge, political will remain." Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that craters were visible at the Fordo facility, but no one had been able to assess the underground damage. He added that attacks on nuclear facilities could cause radiation leaks, but the IAEA had not detected any. Retaliation risk Israel's military was checking results of the US raid on the deeply buried nuclear facility in Fordo, with a spokesman saying it was uncertain if Iran had already removed enriched uranium from the site. The main US strike group was seven B-2 Spirit bombers that flew 18 hours from the American mainland to Iran. Trump said Sunday the planes had landed safely on US soil after the marathon mission. 01:49 In response to the attack, which used over a dozen massive "bunker buster" bombs, Iran's armed forces targeted sites in Israel including Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, with at least 23 people wounded. Nine members of the Revolutionary Guards were killed Sunday in Israeli attacks on central Iran, local media reported, while three people were killed after an ambulance was also struck. Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people so far, Iran's health ministry said. Iran's attacks on Israel have killed 24 people, according to official figures. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman, which had been mediating Iran-US nuclear talks, criticized the US strikes and called for de-escalation. French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday warned against an "uncontrolled escalation" in the Middle East, as he and his German and British counterparts called on Tehran "not to take any further action that could destabilize the region."
LeMonde
5 hours ago
- LeMonde
Netanyahu says returning Gaza hostages will take 'a bit more time'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, June 22, insisted gains in the conflict against Iran would help with the country's war footing in Gaza and bringing the hostages home but said "more time" was needed. "We are getting closer, step by step, to our objectives: defeating Hamas and bringing our hostages home... I am convinced that the operation in Iran is helping us achieve our objective in Gaza," said Netanyahu. "Our successes in Iran are contributing to the successes in Gaza, but it will still take a bit more time," added the Israeli premier. They were constantly acting on several fronts, he added, "...but we are getting closer, step by step, to our objectives: defeat Hamas and bring back our hostages." The Israeli military said Sunday that it had recovered the bodies of three hostages in Gaza more than 20 months after they were abducted by Hamas militants. Of the 251 hostages seized during the assault, 49 are still held in the Palestinian territory, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Israelis demonstrate regularly to pressure the government to do more to bring the hostages home and Netanyahu has been criticized for what some say is a lack of progress.
LeMonde
6 hours ago
- LeMonde
In Tel Aviv, after Iran's retaliation, residents hope for decisive blow to nuclear threat
Irving Kaplan, 92, walked slowly as he left the retirement home. The blast from the Iranian missile, which struck on Sunday morning just a few dozen meters away near Tel Aviv University, in the city's north, caused major damage to the building. Windows shattered, rooms on several floors were ravaged, but the structure remained intact. The alert, issued at 7:30 am – 15 minutes before impact – allowed residents to reach the shelters, and the human toll remained moderate, with around 20 people suffering minor injuries in the neighborhood. "America did a good thing. Iran is a poison for the world," said the elderly man, who made it down from his fourth-floor room in time, praising the strikes carried out by American bombers on Saturday night into Sunday on Iran's nuclear sites at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. His son Yeremi, age 63, a musician, described the widely shared feeling – even after Iran's retaliation – of the necessity of attacking Iran: "We saw on October 7 that the Iranians do what they say. They sent Hamas, they sent Hezbollah and they were building a nuclear bomb. They don't want us here. They want to devour us. We must defend ourselves." Tel Aviv once again awoke to the sound of missile alerts on Sunday morning. It was the 24 th alert in the city of four million people since Israel launched its war against Iran, its nuclear program, and the ayatollahs' regime. Residents felt they were living through particularly grave moments. In the shelters, where millions of Israelis had taken refuge, there was anxious anticipation over the scale of Iran's retaliation. The first salvo came a few hours after the American B-2 bombers' airstrikes: Iran launched more than 20 missiles, about 10 of which were not destroyed before impact by the air force and missile defense systems.
