The Prime Minister’s Office has reportedly instructed the IDF to hook up loudspeakers throughout the Gaza Strip to broadcast Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the UN General Assembly live to its residents.
According to Channel 12 news, the army voiced opposition to the order, as it would require soldiers to leave their posts and enter areas of the Gaza Strip that put them at increased risk of being targeted by Hamas operatives.
“It’s an insane idea,” one senior officer was quoted as telling the Haaretz newspaper. “People from across the political spectrum are asking, ‘What is this delusion?’ No one understands what military benefit there is here.”
Haaretz also cited a military source as reporting that the move is an act of psychological warfare.
The newspaper reported that, regardless of the opposition, the army will not defy the PMO’s request and is preparing to broadcast Netanyahu’s speech across Gaza.
The premier’s speech is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Israeli time, and is expected to primarily focus on blasting Western recognition of an independent Palestinian state.
The IDF declined to comment on the reports and directed journalists to contact the Prime Minister’s Office, which has not yet issued a response.
The Kan public broadcaster’s military correspondent shared a photo to X of loudspeakers set up on a military vehicle, and reported: “Soldiers from the 99th Division are preparing to play Netanyahu’s speech, via loudspeakers, to the residents of Gaza.”
The reports drew angry responses from several family members of people held hostage in Gaza.
Lishay Miran-Lavi, whose husband Omri Miran is in captivity, addressed the prime minister on X: “I heard you’ve ordered loudspeakers [set up] all over Gaza to speak to Gazans,” she wrote. “Instead of to Gazans, I’d like you to speak to those who crave a voice of hope — the hostages, and the soldiers.
“If you’re already setting up loudspeakers, I’d like you to pass along my recording to Omri, so I can tell him and all the hostages and soldiers, in a loud voice, that the nation of Israel is fighting for them and that a decisive majority wants a deal that will return them home and end the fighting. And that we have no intention of giving up. Will you agree?” she added.
Anat Angrest, whose son Matan Angrest is also held by Hamas, wrote: “My Matan and other hostages may hear you today. Every sentence other than ‘I came to the US to sign a deal that will return everyone home’ is a form of psychological abuse for them. Don’t shatter their hope, if they still have any.”
Several hostages’ relatives and survivors of Hamas captivity are also in New York and intend to protest Netanyahu’s speech at the UN, gathering outside the hall and calling for a comprehensive deal to secure the release of the captives in exchange for an end to the war.
Terror groups still hold 48 hostages in Gaza, 26 of whom have been declared dead by Israeli authorities, including a soldier killed in 2014. The remainder are individuals abducted in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that triggered the ongoing war.