Netanyahu blasts UN message LIVE to Hamas, Gaza hostages via loudspeakers, phone networks — WATCH
Addressing the United Nations General Debate, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said, “I want to do something I've never done before. I want to speak from this forum directly to those hostages through loudspeakers.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the UN General Assembly on Friday was broadcast live via huge loudspeakers that were placed on the Gaza border. Several images and videos posted on social media showed trucks loaded with cameras and broadcast equipment.
Near the start of his speech, Netanyahu said he had loudspeakers placed at the Israeli side of the Gaza border to broadcast the address into the Palestinian enclave in hopes that hostages held there would hear his vow that his government will not rest until they are free.
What did Netanyahu say at UNGA?
Addressing the United Nations General Debate, 80th Session, Netanyahu said, "I want to do something I've never done before. I want to speak from this forum directly to those hostages through loudspeakers."
He announced, “I've surrounded Gaza with massive loudspeakers connected to this microphone in the hope that our dear hostages will hear my message and I'll say it first in Hebrew and then in English...”
In his messages to Israeli hostages in Gaza, Netanyahu said, "Our brave heroes, this is Prime Minister Netanyahu speaking to you live from the United Nations. We have not forgotten you, not even for a second."
"The people of Israel are with you. We will not falter and we will not rest until we bring all of you home," he added.
Netanyahu also thanked "special efforts by Israeli intelligence." He said, "My words are now also being carried. They're streamed live to the cell phones of Gazans."
He threatened Hamas leaders, saying, "So, to the remaining Hamas leaders and to the jailers of our hostages, I now say: Lay down your arms. Let my people go. Free the hostages, all of them...Free the hostages now."
The prime minister's office also claimed that the Israeli army had taken over mobile phones in Gaza to broadcast his message.
"In an unprecedented action, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a live broadcast from the UN building in New York, has announced that the IDF took control of the telephones of Gaza residents and Hamas members, and that his speech is now being broadcast live via the telephones," the prime minister posted on X.
However, the Associated Press claimed that its journalists inside Gaza saw no immediate evidence of Netanyahu’s speech being broadcast on phones there.