Netanyahu says he hopes hostage deal can be done in few days
WASHINGTON : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he hoped to reach a deal in a few days for the release of more Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
Netanyahu said 50 hostages were still being held captive by Hamas. Of that figure, he said, only 20 are believed to be alive.
'I want to take them all out. We now have a deal that supposedly will get half of the living and half of the dead out,' Netanyahu said in an interview on Newsmax show 'The Record with Greta Van Susteren' that aired on Thursday.
'And so we'll have 10 living left and about 12 deceased hostages, but I'll get them out, too. I hope we can complete it in a few days.'
On Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israel's retaliation has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, Gaza's health ministry says, and reduced much of Gaza to rubble.
The two sides have had two ceasefires – one in November 2023 and another in January 2025- since the fighting started.
Netanyahu said Israel and Hamas will likely have a 60-day ceasefire, which the two sides could use to try to end the conflict.
Hamas said on Wednesday there were several sticking points in the ongoing ceasefire talks including the flow of aid, withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and 'genuine guarantees for a permanent ceasefire.'
Netanyahu's interview with Newsmax comes as he wraps his third visit to Washington since President Donald Trump took office in January.
Speaking of Trump, the Israeli leader said his country has never had 'such a friend, such a support of Israel, the Jewish state in the White House.'
Last month, the US joined Israel in striking Iran, a move that Trump has said 'obliterated' three of Iran's nuclear sites.
When asked about a damage assessment, Netanyahu said, 'Within months, they could have produced atomic bombs.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malaysian Reserve
2 hours ago
- Malaysian Reserve
AMD says it will restart MI308 sales to China after US review
ADVANCED Micro Devices Inc. said that it plans to restart shipments of its MI308 chips to China after the US said it would approve the sales, following a similar decision on an Nvidia Corp. semiconductor. The US Commerce Department told AMD that license applications for the MI308 products would move forward for review, an AMD spokesman said Tuesday. Allowing the products back into China is a reversal for President Donald Trump's administration, which spent weeks insisting that curbs on chips sales to the Asian country were not up for discussion. The news comes after weeks of thawing ties between the two nations as well as Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang's meeting with Trump last week. AMD said in April that export restrictions on the MI308 chips would cost the company about $800 million. Earlier, Nvidia similarly said the government had agreed to green-light shipments of its H20 AI chip to China, a decision that could add billions to the company's revenue this year. AMD shares rose 5% in premarket trading on Tuesday. The stock closed at $146.24 on Monday and has gained 21% this year. –BLOOMBERG
Malay Mail
3 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Betting on TACO: How stock markets learned to ignore Trump's bluster amid latest tariff threats
PARIS, July 15 — When it comes to Donald Trump's repeated tariff threats and financial markets, it looks like 'TACO' is the dish investors are dining on, analysts said. The acronym — coined by a Financial Times columnist and standing for 'Trump Always Chickens Out' — has become a lodestar for equities, currencies and commodities traders, resulting in diminishing reactions to the US president's warnings. To be sure, Trump's vows of future tariff hikes still weigh on markets — just not to the extent they used to. When his 'Liberation Day' protectionist offensive was unveiled in April, the reaction was panic. Now, said analysts, traders take his tariff announcements in their stride. On Monday, stock markets largely shrugged off Trump's weekend threat to impose 30-percent tariffs on the EU. 'It's amazing in fact, the tariff rates are as high as they were announced back in April, yet the market reaction is completely different,' Ipek Ozkardeskaya, an analyst at Swissquote Bank, told AFP. 'Investors continue to bet that Trump 'will chicken out' — the so-called TACO trade — and that negotiations will extend beyond August 1st,' when the tariffs are to come into effect, she said. Despite Trump trying to raise the stakes with several tariff announcements over recent days, targeting a dozen countries and products such as copper, 'the market has increasingly overcome its queasiness', said Jim Reid, a Deutsche Bank analyst. US stock indices are hitting record highs, while European equities are also proving attractive to buyers. Germany's DAX index has risen more than 20 percent since the beginning of this year, despite the export-dependent country being among the more exposed to Trump's levies. A member of civic groups wearing a mask of US President Donald Trump performs during a protest against Trump's tariff policy near the US embassy in Seoul on July 15, 2025. — AFP pic Inured to Trump's behaviour That resilience speaks to traders becoming inured to Trump's pattern of behaviour that goes from headline threats, to delays, and then in some cases to negotiated outline deals. 'Markets aren't collapsing because they've grown conditioned to tariff threats as part of the US negotiating playbook. Investors see this more as tactical leverage than an immediate economic cliff,' Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said. When it comes to the latest threat, 'the real tell is that the EU hasn't responded with reciprocal tariffs, which suggests Brussels still thinks a negotiated outcome is possible — and that's keeping risk sentiment afloat,' he said. 'The markets expect the (EU-US) negotiations to continue,' agreed Alexandre Baradez, head of market analysis at IG France. But there is a lingering worry that Trump this time might make good on his threat. 'If huge tariffs do get imposed on August 1st, in thin holiday markets, we could get a sizeable market reaction,' said Deutsche Bank's Reid. In America, the effects of the tariffs Trump has already implemented are also being watched closely, especially for signs of spiking inflation. That, combined with lower growth, could usher in a period of stagflation, which could prevent the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, using lower interest rates to revive the economy. 'The market's reaction — or the lack thereof — increases the gap between how investors want to see the reality, and what the reality will look like,' warned Swissquote Bank's Ozkardeskaya. — AFP
Free Malaysia Today
4 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Israel strikes Syrian city, vows to protect Druze from govt forces
Bursts of gunfire were heard as violence entered a third day in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida. (AFP pic) SWEIDA : Israel carried out strikes against Syrian government forces in the Sweida region of southern Syria today, saying it was acting to protect the Druze minority and vowing to ensure the area near the Israeli border remained demilitarised. A Reuters reporter heard at least four strikes as drones could be heard overhead and saw a damaged tank being towed away from the city, where bursts of gunfire were heard as violence entered a third day. The upsurge in violence in the predominantly Druze city marks the latest challenge for interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa in a corner of Syria where Israel has vowed to protect the Druze minority. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz instructed the military 'to immediately strike regime forces and weaponry that were brought into the Sweida region… for the regime's operations against the Druze', they said in a statement. 'Israel is committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria due to the deep brotherhood alliance with our Druze citizens in Israel,' they said. 'We are acting to prevent the Syrian regime from harming them and to ensure the demilitarisation of the area adjacent to our border with Syria. Earlier today an influential Druze leader, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, issued a statement accusing Syrian government forces of breaching a ceasefire and bombarding the city and called on fighters to confront government troops. Syrian defence minister Murhaf Abu Qasra later issued a statement declaring that a complete ceasefire was in place, and saying government forces would only open fire if fired upon.
