Good evening citizens of Israel. On behalf of all of you, I would like to first convey heartfelt condolences, from your hearts as well, to the dear families of Sgt. Yosef Yehuda Chirak and Staff Sgt. Danilo Mocanu, who fell in the Gaza Strip. The War of Redemption has claimed a heavy price from us but it also has an incomparably clear and just purpose: To defeat Hamas, which perpetrated the atrocities of October 7, return all of our hostages and make certain that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel. These objectives are integrated – and we are committed to fully achieving them. While we have already achieved much together, the work is not yet finished. We have a very organized plan. We started in Gaza: We have eliminated tens of thousands of terrorists. We eliminated the arch-murderers – Deif, Yahya Sinwar and apparently Muhammad Sinwar as well. We have destroyed countless terrorist infrastructures. Whoever attacked us with such horrifying brutality – today understands the magnitude of the destruction he has brought on himself. Thanks to the heroism of our fighters and thanks to the rational decisions that we made – we have, so far, returned 197 hostages, including 148 alive. There are – for a certainty – 20 living hostages left, and up to 38 deceased. We will return them all. I would like to remind you that at the start of the war there was someone who said that it could be that we would not succeed in returning even one hostage! This is what he said, a very senior person. I thought differently, and I acted differently, and this has proven itself. If there is an opportunity for a temporary ceasefire to return additional hostages, I would like to emphasize: We are ready for a temporary ceasefire. After smashing the enemy in the south – we faced great international pressure to stop the war. I would like to say, we also faced great domestic pressure to stop the war. We rebuffed this pressure. We entered Rafah. We seized the Philadelphi Corridor, we cut off Hamas's supply routes. Then, and only then, we turned north – to Lebanon. In the daring pagers operation, an operation the likes of which has not been seen in the annals of war, we simultaneously hit thousands of vital Hezbollah terrorists. At the same time, we eliminated thousands of terrorists, including most of Hezbollah's senior command. We eliminated Nasrallah, his replacement and his replacement's replacement. We destroyed the great majority of Hezbollah's arsenal of missiles which it took them years to build. We destroyed the terrorist villages in southern Lebanon and thus lifted the threat of invasion from the northern communities. By the way, we are enforcing this ceasefire, with very high frequency, with a constant iron fist. This is my directive to the IDF and it is carrying it out around the clock. Our actions in Lebanon led to the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, including the destruction of most of the Syrian military's capabilities. We have harshly struck the Houthis in Yemen, and we still have not had the last word. We struck Iran's air defense capabilities and additional vital infrastructure. But I would like to say that Iran is still a very serious threat to Israel. We are – of course – fully coordinating with the US; we speak to them all the time, and we hope that they will achieve an agreement that will prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons, meaning that it will deny Iran the ability to enrich uranium. If this is achieved, we would, of course, certainly welcome it. But in any case, the State of Israel reserves to itself the right to defend itself from a regime that threatens to destroy it. In any case, even if we have made great achievements against the Iranian axis, we have yet to complete the work. Operation 'Gideon's Chariots' is designed to do this, to complete the work. Three days ago, together with the Defense Minister, and with the unanimous approval of the Security Cabinet, I ordered the opening of an additional stage in the War of Redemption. Our forces are landing increasingly intense and forceful blows on Hamas's remaining strongholds in Gaza. I ask of you one thing – ask the residents of Sderot, Netivot, Be'er Sheva and the communities of the Western Negev: Their houses are shaking, not from Hamas missiles, but from the great firepower of the IDF. Our forces are seizing more and more territory in order to sweep it free of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure. At the end of the effort, all areas of the Gaza Strip will be under Israel's security control – and Hamas will be totally defeated. In order to maintain our operational freedom of action, and to allow our best friends to continue to support us, we need to prevent a humanitarian crisis. We said this at the beginning of the war. I hear from Israel's best friends, friends in the Senate, true friends of our country, they tell me this: 'We will give you full backing. We will send you weapons. We will give you full backing in the Security Council. Eliminate these monsters, eliminate them. But there is one thing we cannot accept: We cannot accept a situation in which there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.' But, on the other hand, you know, you all know, that Hamas has looted a considerable part of the aid, and it sells the rest at inflated prices in order to finance its terrorist army. This is the source of the money for financing the recruitment of the terrorists. We are eliminating the terrorists, and they are recruiting with the money they loot from the assistance that is coming into Gaza. Therefore, in order to deny Hamas the ability of taking control of the humanitarian assistance, we – together with the US – have developed a different framework for the allocation of basic food to the civilians and the children, which will not reach Hamas. This is divided into three stages: Stage A: The bringing in of basic food now to Gaza – in order to prevent a humanitarian crisis, and in order to allow the fighting to continue. Stage B: This will happen in the coming days, the opening of food distribution points by American companies, and which will be secured by the IDF. Stage C: While taking control of areas in the Gaza Strip, the creation of a sterile zone in the southern Strip to which the civilian population will be evacuated from the combat areas, for the purpose of defending it. In this zone, which will be Hamas-free, the residents of Gaza will receive full humanitarian assistance. But there are those around the world, and in Israel, who say 'Enough. Come on, end the war .' Then I have news for you: I am ready to end the war – according to clear conditions that will ensure the security of Israel: All of the hostages will return home. Hamas will lay down its weapons, leave power, its leadership (whoever is left) will be exiled from the Strip, Gaza will be completely demilitarized, and we will carry out the Trump plan, which is so correct and so revolutionary, and it says something simple: The residents of Gaza who wish to leave – will be able to leave. Whoever calls on us to stop the fighting before these objectives are achieved – is, in effect, calling for Hamas to stay in power. What does this mean? This means that all of our achievements and all of the sacrifice of our heroic soldiers will have been for naught. Hamas will rebuild, resume its missile production, dig more terrorist tunnels and reposition itself with armed terrorists a short distance from the communities of the Negev. We will receive more abductions, more murders, more rapes, and more burning of infants. I will not accept this! Citizens of Israel, you will not accept this either. Yesterday I heard Yair Golan's shocking remarks. Like many of you, the vast majority of the citizens of Israel, I was outraged by them. At a time when our heroic soldiers are laying down their lives in the Gaza Strip in order to defend our country and bring back our hostages – Yair Golan accuses them of war crimes. He said that we are killing babies as 'a hobby.' Such as this I have heard only from the worst anti-Semites who propagate blood-libels against the Jewish People. This genuinely reminds me of the things that were said about us in the Middle Ages. Who really has a hobby of killing babies, and does so with horrific malice, is Hamas, not the soldiers of the IDF, who are doing everything to prevent the killing of civilians. But instead of defending the soldiers of the IDF, they protect Yair Golan, and fan the flames of global antisemitism. There is no limit to his having lost the way, and the band of has-beens with him. About this it says in the Ethics of the Fathers (4:21): 'Envy, lust and honor drive a man from the world.' And I will tell you why they do this – because with them, everything is political. In order to topple the Government of Israel, they are willing to do everything: Burn down the clubhouse, slander Israel and the fighters of the IDF in the world, and are also willing to do something else – they will have us to lose the war. But thankfully, the decisive majority of the citizens of Israel utterly reject these remarks. And moreover, this is not weakening the steadfast spirit of our splendid fighters. I meet them in the field. I meet the wounded. I meet the reservists. I meet the bereaved families. And they tell me: 'Bibi, don't stop. All the way. Go all the way until victory.' And this is what I tell you, citizens of Israel. We are here, together, all the way, until victory! Together we will fight and with G-d's help, together we will win."