(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday for the latter’s “strong statement” calling on Hamas to release the 101 hostages it has held in Gaza for 424 days.

“It is a forceful statement, which makes it clear that there is only one responsible for this situation, and that is Hamas,” the Israeli premier said.

Netanyahu addressed the president-elect’s remarks ahead of an Israeli government meeting in Nahariya, a northern city that has often been the target of cross-border attacks by Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon over the past 14 months.

“Hamas needs to release the hostages,” Netanyahu said. “President Trump put the emphasis in the correct place, on Hamas, and not on the Israeli government, as is customary in some places.”

Since shortly after Oct. 7, there have been global calls for Jerusalem to give in to Hamas’s terms for a hostages-for-ceasefire agreement.

In his Monday statement, Trump vowed that there will be consequences for Hamas if the terror group does not release the hostages before his Jan. 20 inauguration.

“If the hostages are not released prior to Jan. 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume office as president of the United States, there will be all hell to pay in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against humanity,” Trump stated.

“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied history of the United States of America,” he added. “Release the hostages now.”

Netanyahu said his government would continue to do everything in its power to release the 101 captives from Gaza, warning Hamas terrorists that “whoever harms them, their blood is on their own heads.” (The latter is a biblical expression.)

“President Trump also said this yesterday, and this adds validity to this whole adage,” he said. “We have already proven that we are fulfilling this edict, and we will not relent. We will return all of our hostages.”

Netanyahu also commented on the news that Israel Defense Forces Cpt. Omer Maxim Neutra—previously believed to be among the living captives—was killed during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, and his body was taken to Gaza.

Israel will bring back “both the dead and the living,” Netanyahu said. “On behalf of the government and citizens of Israel, I send my deepest condolences to the family and share in their heavy grief.”

Neutra moved to the Jewish state from the United States in 2020.

“He immigrated to Israel to enlist in the IDF, chose a combat path and was chosen to command and lead, and that is exactly what he did at the outbreak of the war on Oct. 7,” Netanyahu said. “He led his soldiers to defend the Envelope towns. He fought until he fell.” (The premier referred to the Gaza Envelope.)

Neutra, 21, was a tank platoon commander in the 77th Battalion of the IDF’s 7th Brigade. His death was pronounced by the Military Rabbinate based on new intelligence information. His family was notified.

Jerusalem believes that 97 of the 251 hostages taken during the Oct. 7 assault remain in Gaza after 423 days. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed during “Operation Protective Edge” in 2014.

The official figure includes 84 men, 13 women and two children under the age of five, among them 87 Israeli citizens and 10 foreign nationals—eight from Thailand, one from Nepal and one from Tanzania.

A total of 105 hostages were released in a November 2023 truce deal between Israel and Hamas, and four were returned prior to the deal. Eight hostages have been rescued alive by troops. The bodies of 37 have been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by Israeli forces.

As reported by VINnews