CNN
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday offered $5 million and safe passage out of Gaza to anyone who returns a hostage.

“To those who want to leave this entanglement, I say: whoever brings us a hostage will find a safe way out for himself and his family. We will also give $5 million for each hostage,” Netanyahu said.

“Choose, the choice is yours, but the result will be the same. We will bring them all back.”

Speaking in the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza alongside Defense Minister Israel Katz, Netanyahu added that whoever harms a hostage would “pay the price.”

Critics of the prime minister have accused him of deliberately delaying negotiations on a hostage release deal, claiming this serves to prolong the war and prolong his grip on power – claims Netanyahu has denied.

His announcement was met with outrage from the mother of Matan Zangauker, one of the hostages still held in Gaza.

“The prime minister is exchanging the lives of the hostages,” said Einav Zangauker.

She criticized Netanyahu for “offering money to Hamas” and said his attempt to “divide and rule Gaza through bribes to the kidnappers” would endanger the hostages.

“It is unbelievable that the man who financed Hamas is again offering money to Hamas,” she said, referring to a controversial deal in which Qatar sent millions of dollars to Gaza for years with Israel’s support.

Netanyahu defended the initiative when it was launched in 2018, saying it was aimed at returning calm to Israeli villages in the south and preventing a humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

“If this is the prime minister’s strategy, I understand that he has no intention of rescuing the hostages, he will continue to hesitate and he intends to sacrifice them and the soldiers on the altar of his political considerations,” Zangauker said .

When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year, more than 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 others taken hostage. Of those abducted, 97 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the Israeli army.

Many of those rescued in Israeli operations were found dead, sparking outrage in Israel.