The graduation ceremony for the 71st Combat Officers' Course was held on Sunday and attended by IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defense Minister Israel Katz.

Netanyahu stated during his address that "a mix of military and diplomatic pressure will lead to the return of the hostages. The pressure, together with Trump's firm remarks brought the hostages home. We will not let up from the mission to bring everyone home."

Netanyahu held up a photo of the Bibas family, who were murdered in captivity in Gaza, and stated: "Already during the first days of the war, Hamas murdered Shiri and her children in cold blood. They strangled the gentle children with their hands and if they only could, they would have murdered all of us with the same brutality."

Netanyahu continued: "Against this we fight, and we must and can defeat those monsters - we will defeat them. That is our mission and that is your mission. As the leaders of the homeland, you all have the mission of the bearers of the swords and shields. We have great expectations of you, but I know that above all, you have expectations of yourselves. We are proud of you, we trust you, and we salute you."

He made clear in his address: "Hamas won't control Gaza, Gaza will be demilitarized, and the military force will be dismantled." He added: "We demand the demilitarization of southern Syria from the forces of the new regime. We will not tolerate a threat on the Druze community in southern Syria."

During the ceremony, Defense Minister Katz spoke about the operations in Judea and Samaria: "Today, I ordered the IDF to prepare for a long stay in the camps that will be cleaned out in the coming year, and not to allow the residents to return and terrorism to return and grow."

Regarding the IAF jets that flew over Beirut during Nasrallah's funeral, he clarified that the message is clear: "Whoever threatens to destroy and attack Israel - that will be his end."

Katz promised that "if we need to return to fight, and when we need to return to fight, the enemy will meet a might that it didn't know of beforehand, we are preparing for that. This war will end with two accomplishments - every hostage will return home and we will defeat Hamas so it won't be in Gaza, not governing, not security, and in no other way. We will not allow Hamas to rule Gaza, we will not return to the reality of October 7th."

The Chief of Staff stated: "When I was an officer cadet—just like you, thirty-eight years ago—I had to choose a book to read and write about for my commanders in the course. I chose the book 'Truth in the Shadow of War' by Yaakov Hasdai, an Israeli hero who fought in several wars, including the Yom Kippur War, after which he became a member of the Agranat Commission. 'At that time,' Hasdai wrote, 'I was deeply concerned upon realizing that no serious attempt had been made to understand and analyze the lessons of the war.' The book left a profound and lasting impression on me, and it was at the forefront of my mind when I made the decision to conduct inquiries during an ongoing multi-front war—thorough and rigorous inquiries that would enable high-quality, in-depth learning."

He added: "We’ve been at war for over 500 days. Over this past week, we were again reminded of the enemy’s cowardice, choosing to hide behind our soldiers in the field but to be brutally evil toward innocents, from the elderly to small babies. Over the past few days, the children of the Bibas family, Kfir and Ariel, and their mother Shiri were returned to us. They were held in captivity with unforgivable cruelty, along with 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, one of the founders of Nir Oz who loved this land. We bow our heads to the Bibas and Lifshitz families, and request their forgiveness for not being able to return their loved ones alive."