The Prime Minister’s Office instructed the Israel Defense Forces to broadcast Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Friday speech to the UN General Assembly live to residents in the Gaza Strip.
After reports Friday morning that the IDF was ordered to disperse loudspeakers on trucks throughout the Strip, the PMO confirmed that it was planning to play the speech live for Gazans, but asserted that it would only be doing so from the Israeli side of the border.
But contrary to the claim, some of the loudspeakers — mounted on trucks and cranes — were brought to army posts inside the Strip, including those more than a kilometer deep in the territory, according to the IDF.
“The Prime Minister’s Office instructed civilian entities, in cooperation with the IDF, to place loudspeakers on trucks on the Israeli side of the Gaza border only,” the PMO said, “with the aim of broadcasting Prime Minister Netanyahu’s historic speech today at the UN General Assembly into the Gaza Strip.”
The move is part of the “public diplomacy effort,” Netanyahu’s office said, asserting that the prime minister “explicitly ordered that this operation must not endanger IDF soldiers.”
The IDF later confirmed that it had been ordered by Netanyahu’s office to broadcast the premier’s UN speech to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as part of an “influence campaign.”
Loudspeakers are mounted on a crane at an army post in the northern Gaza Strip to broadcast Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the UN to Palestinians, September 26, 2025. (Social media; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
While Netanyahu’s office said it had instructed the military to place loudspeakers on trucks on the Israeli side of the Gaza border only, without risking the lives of troops, the IDF said it also brought such loudspeakers into the Strip. It was unclear if the IDF violated the prime minister’s instruction by bringing the loudspeakers into Gaza or if the PMO’s statement had false information.
The military said a total of nine loudspeaker systems were deployed for the “influence campaign,” aimed both at the Palestinian civilian population in the Strip and against Hamas.
The campaign was also part of efforts to influence the hostage talks in Israel’s favor, the military said, adding that other tools are being used, which it refused to elaborate on.
The loudspeakers were placed on cranes and trucks and taken to army encampments inside the Strip, including in Gaza City, the Netzartim Corridor, and in southern Gaza, the military confirmed to reporters, though the IDF said none were being brought to the front lines. Others were placed along the border with Gaza, in line with Netanyahu’s directive.
One reservist was cited by i24 News as saying that they were woken up in the morning for a mission to escort trucks with loudspeakers: “We didn’t know the real reason, they only told us it was to move the population. They asked for it to be as close to the civilians as possible.”
It remained unclear if any Palestinians would be able to hear the speech, as most of the civilian population is far from any of the army’s posts in Gaza.
אין לתאר pic.twitter.com/XxoYogKZHF
— איתי בלומנטל ???????? Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) September 26, 2025
According to an earlier Channel 12 news report, 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, before the PMO’s clarification. “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 was an act of psychological warfare.
The newspaper reported that, regardless of the opposition, the army would not defy the PMO’s request and was preparing to broadcast Netanyahu’s speech across Gaza.
The premier’s speech was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Israeli time, and was expected to primarily focus on blasting Western recognition of an independent Palestinian state.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledges audience applause after his address to the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP/Richard Drew)
A protest group representing mothers of combat soldiers slammed the decision to place the loudspeakers in Gaza: “How long will you use our sons for your personal campaign? They are not just extras in your war [movie] frame. They are not scenery in your megalomaniac show, the Ima Era (Wide-awake Mother) group said in a statement.
“We appeal and demand from the chief of staff and also from the general of the Southern Command: The responsibility for the lives of the troops is in your hands. You must not give in to this madness,” they added.
The unusual and controversial move was also met with angry responses from families of several hostages held by Hamas.
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.
Lishay Miran-Lavi, wife of Hamas-held hostage Omri Miran, speaks at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on September 5, 2025. (Uriel Even Sapir/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
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 intended 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.
First Appeared on
Source link
