FAR-RIGHT OPPOSITION
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, however, warned he would oppose any deal that stopped the war.
“The proposed agreement is a catastrophe for Israel’s national security,” Smotrich said on X. “We will not be part of a surrender deal that involves releasing dangerous terrorists, halting the war, squandering the hard-won achievements paid for in blood and abandoning many hostages still in captivity.
“Now is the time to intensify our efforts, using all available force to fully secure and cleanse the Gaza Strip,” he added.
Smotrich, an outspoken member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, has repeatedly opposed halting the war in Gaza.
His comments came amid rising calls by Israelis, particularly families of hostages held in Gaza, to reach an accord that would bring their loved ones home.
Smotrich’s remarks underline the sharp divides in Netanyahu’s ruling coalition over a deal.
But Netanyahu could nonetheless muster enough support to pass the deal through his cabinet, even without Smotrich.
Successive rounds of negotiations held last year repeatedly failed to produce a deal.
Among the key sticking points in the talks have been disagreements over the permanence of any ceasefire and the scale of humanitarian aid for the Palestinian territory.
Other points of contention include the return of displaced Gazans to their homes, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Palestinian territory and the reopening of border crossings.
Netanyahu has firmly rejected a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and remains opposed to any Palestinian governance of the territory.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s attack on Oct 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
On that day, militants also took 251 people hostage, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed 46,584 people, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations says are reliable.
