The Media Line: Iran War Has Opened New Opportunity to Free Hostages, Netanyahu Says 

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

Iran War Has Opened New Opportunity to Free Hostages, Netanyahu Says 

By The Media Line Staff 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel now has “an opportunity to free the hostages” held in Gaza and pursue broader regional shifts following what he described as a victory over both Hamas and Iran. Speaking during a visit to a Shin Bet facility in southern Israel, Netanyahu credited the war with removing “two deadly, immediate threats to our existence.” 

He said that Israel will “succeed in both” bringing the hostages home and defeating Hamas. He added that Israel’s military and intelligence gains had opened “broad regional possibilities.” 

The visit included a security briefing with the acting head of the Shin Bet, known publicly as “S.”, and covered covert operations in Gaza, counterespionage against Iran, and the deployment of new intelligence technologies. Netanyahu praised the agency’s offensive and defensive operations, saying, “You’ve done a very, very good job targeting and countering them—breaking new ground.” 

The Shin Bet chief said the agency has prevented about 770 major attacks since the start of 2025—roughly two per day during the recent campaign against Iran. He said all of Tehran’s efforts to orchestrate attacks inside Israel during the war were “met with complete failure.” 

He credited the results to continuous intelligence work and cooperation with the Israeli military and Mossad, and praised the thousands of Shin Bet employees who, he said, “worked tirelessly to deny our enemies any success.” 

Netanyahu went on to attend a cabinet meeting in the military’s Southern Command Headquarters in Beersheba.