Netanyahu says Gaza deal would have left former Iran leader Khamenei in power

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Iran's former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would still be in power if Israel had accepted Hamas's terms for ending the war in Gaza.

“If we had done that, Deif, Sinwar, Haniyeh, Nasrallah, Khamenei, Assad – everyone would still be in place,” Netanyahu said during a multi-front military assessment. “With all their weapons, with all their organization, in the exact same place.”

Netanyahu said he had rejected calls to withdraw from Gaza in exchange for the release of all hostages, arguing that doing so would have amounted to “a massive defeat.”