Ben-Gvir to quit Israeli coalition after it endorses Gaza ceasefire deal

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Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir announced Saturday that he will quit Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government in protest at a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.

The Israeli government approved a multi-phase deal early Saturday that would end the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and pave the way for the release of 98 hostages still being held there.

But some far-right cabinet members voted against the deal, and Ben-Gvir later said he would follow through on his earlier threat to quit the government on Sunday, when the first six-week phase of the deal, which he called “horrendous,” was due to begin.

Despite the departure of Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party, Netanyahu’s coalition will retain a narrow two-seat majority in Israel’s 120-seat parliament, as his ultra-nationalist ally Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, looks set to remain in government.

Earlier this week, Smotrich threatened to quit the government if Israel does not resume the war when the first phase of the deal is completed, in which Hamas is set to release 33 hostages in exchange for the release of 1,900 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. six weeks

On Saturday, he reiterated that threat, but said Netanyahu was committed to changes in the management of the war and aimed for a “gradual occupation of the entire Gaza Strip.”

“Look at Gaza, it is destroyed, it is uninhabitable and it will remain so,” he said in a statement on Telegram. . . Very soon we will erase their smile again and replace it with the cries of grief and the sobs of the destitute.”

In a brief pre-recorded address released Saturday night, Netanyahu said the administrations of both outgoing US President Joe Biden and his successor, Donald Trump, had defended Israel’s right to resume war if talks on the details of a second round failed.

“If we have to go back to fighting, we will do it in new ways and we will do it with great force,” Netanyahu said.

Qatar’s foreign ministry said earlier on Saturday that the ceasefire would take effect at 8:30 a.m. local time (6:30 a.m. GMT) on Sunday, with Hamas expected to release the three hostages and the Israelis on the same day will release 95 Palestinian prisoners in the first swap under the deal.

However, in a sign of the fragility of the agreements, Netanyahu said on Saturday evening that Israel would not move the deal until Hamas presented it with a list of hostages to be released. “Israel will not tolerate violations of the agreement,” he said.

If the deal goes through as planned, negotiations on the details of the second phase will begin on the 16th day of the first phase. During this time, the remaining living hostages will be released in exchange for hundreds more Palestinian prisoners, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and an eventual end to the war.

The third and final phase will involve the return of the bodies of the dead hostages and the beginning of the reconstruction of Gaza under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.