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.”

1776 Coalition Sponsored Is Israel’s fate tied to Syria? Syria has fallen, but we are still far from seeing the last of the hostages returned. Our brave soldiers must fight to secure Israel’s borders, rid the region of emboldened attackers all over the Middle East, and adapt to the escalating threats from Syria, but Israel doesn’t have enough supplies to properly win this war. Can you support our IDF sons and daughters as they continue fighting for the Survival of the Promised Land?.

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.