Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said on CBS’s Evening News that Israel was closer to releasing the hostages held by Hamas during the terror attack of October 7.

Norah O’Donnell, CBS News anchor asked: “CBS News learned that a deal is on the table for freeing hostages in exchange of a ceasefire lasting three to five days. Are you close to bringing back some of the hostages?

Netanyahu stated, “We’re closer now than before we started the ground operation because the action on the ground has put pressure Hamas into achieving a ceasefire.”

“We’ll have a temporary truce if we don’t manage to get our hostages home,” he continued. It is not in my best interest to go into more detail. We are making every effort. Our three war objectives include this. One, to destroy Hamas. The second is to return our hostages back to Israel. And the third is to make sure that this terrorist threat never comes from Gaza again and that Gaza will have a new future for us, the Palestinians, and the Middle East. “Bringing back our hostages is an integral part of the war goals we have set, and we are doing all we can to accomplish it.”

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O’Donnell asked: “But just to be clear, do you consider a limited truce?”

Netanyahu said: “I haven’t changed my statement that a temporary truce would only be possible if our hostages were returned.