Enough of remaining Israeli hostages alive to warrant Gaza war, Netanyahu says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview aired on Sunday that "enough" of the 132 remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza are alive to justify Israel's ongoing war in the region.

Asked how many of the hostages are still alive, Netanyahu said "enough to warrant the kind of efforts that we're doing."

"We're going to try to do our best to get all those who are alive back and, frankly, also the bodies of the dead," he said in the interview with ABC's "This Week" program.

Netanyahu also said that one Palestinian civilian has been killed for every Hamas fighter killed in Gaza.

Health authorities in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, estimate about

28,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the region since the conflict began in October.

Hamas gunmen killed 1,200 Israelis and took around 250 hostages back to Gaza in an Oct. 7 assault that triggered the conflict.