Israel president urges leadership to secure Gaza hostage deal

President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday urged Israeli leaders to use all their “power and means” to secure a deal for the release of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.

“I call on our leadership to act with all its power and with all the means at our disposal to bring about a deal,” Herzog, whose role is largely symbolic, said in a statement.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told lawmakers on Monday that “some progress” had been made in negotiations to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza, more than 14 months into the war.

His comments in parliament come two days after Palestinian militant groups also talked of progress towards a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

“Everything we are doing cannot be disclosed. We are taking actions to bring them back. I wish to say cautiously that there has been some progress, and we will not stop acting until we bring them all home,” Netanyahu said in parliament, on the same day he took the stand again at his ongoing corruption trial.

“I want to say to the families of the hostages: We are thinking of you and we will not give up on your loved ones, who are our loved ones as well.”

Hostage families have questioned the sincerity of government negotiation efforts, and critics have long accused Netanyahu of stalling in truce talks, prolonging the war partly to appease his far-right coalition partners.