Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday declared Israel’s hostage recovery mission complete, using a victory-lap press conference to reassert his hard-line strategy for Gaza’s future and to align closely with President Donald Trump’s framework, while also issuing fresh warnings to Iran.

“Our soldiers fell [in Gaza] because we didn’t have enough ammunition, ” the prime minister said. “That changed when Trump took office.”

Speaking about the return of the final hostage, Ran Gvili hy”d, Netanyahu said: “Yesterday we completed in full the sacred mission of bringing back all of our hostages.”

The prime minister framed the outcome as validation of his long-standing belief that sustained military and diplomatic pressure could deliver results, despite internal and external criticism.

“I believed that through the combination of military pressure and diplomatic pressure we could — and would — bring all of our hostages home,” Netanyahu said.

The remarks were aimed as much at domestic critics as at international partners, as Netanyahu defended his approach.

“What is more important in war than anything else is to ignore the background noise, to stand cool-headed in the face of pressures from within and from without,” he said. “To understand what needs to be done and to pursue it with all one’s might — to achieve the objective.”

Netanyahu credited the IDF, Shin Bet, Israel Police and the Trump administration for their role in securing the hostages’ return. He singled out former Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and hostage coordinator Gal Hirsch, who appeared alongside him at the press conference.

With the hostage phase concluded, Netanyahu pivoted quickly to what he cast as the next, non-negotiable stage of Israel’s campaign.

“Now we are focusing on completing the two remaining missions: dismantling Hamas’s weapons and demilitarizing Gaza of arms and tunnels,” he said.

Invoking his coordination with Trump, Netanyahu made clear that Israel would not allow reconstruction or political changes in Gaza before full demilitarization, rejecting proposals circulating among regional and international actors.

“As I agreed with President Trump… there are only two possibilities: either this will be done the easy way or it will be done the hard way, but in any case, it will happen,” Netanyahu said. “I am already hearing the statements that we will allow Gaza’s reconstruction before demilitarization. That will not happen.”

He also rejected suggestions that foreign forces could take on a security role in Gaza.

“I am hearing that we will bring Turkish soldiers and Qatari soldiers into Gaza. That too will not happen,” he said.

“I am hearing that I will allow the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza. That did not happen, and it will not happen,” he said. “I think all of you know that the one who repeatedly stopped the establishment of a Palestinian state is me.”

The prime minister reiterated Israel’s long-standing security doctrine, asserting continued Israeli control across the territory.

“Israel will maintain security control over the entire area from the Jordan River to the sea, and that applies to the Gaza Strip as well,” he said.

Netanyahu also returned to the regional threat picture, repeating a warning he issued last week to Iran.

“Now, it is true — the Iranian axis is trying to recover — but we will not allow it to do so,” he said. “If Iran makes the grave mistake of attacking Israel, we will respond with a force Iran has never seen before.”

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