Coalition hawks pan nascent Gaza deal as ‘catastrophe’; opposition, UTJ vow support

Smotrich says party will not be part of ‘surrender deal,’ drawing angry rebukes from Gantz, brother of hostage; Lapid tells Netanyahu to drop far-right and rely on his backing instead

Rachel Moshe, mother of Oz Ezra Moshe who was murdered in the Nova massacre, yells at Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a Finance committee meeting at the Knesset on January 13, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Rachel Moshe, mother of Oz Ezra Moshe who was murdered in the Nova massacre, yells at Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a Finance committee meeting at the Knesset on January 13, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

A brewing deal potentially freeing hostages held in Gaza for over 15 months and ending fighting there was dismissed by a top ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “catastrophe” Monday, prompting angry pushback from families of captives and others pushing for the long-sought agreement.

The comments from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, which were backed up by other right-wing opponents to a compromise with the Hamas terror group, underlined the domestic pitfalls facing Israel’s leadership as negotiators meeting in Qatar appeared to near the finalization of a deal. At the same time, opposition leader Yair Lapid offered to help Netanyahu ensure sufficient political support for the move.

In a statement following swirling reports indicating a major breakthrough in the talks early Monday, Smotrich warned that the far-right Religious Zionism party he heads would not go along with a deal that he said would constitute a “catastrophe for Israel’s national security.”

“We will not be part of a surrender deal that would include releasing terrorists, stopping the war and dissolving the achievements that were bought with much blood, and abandoning many hostages,” he said.

Smotrich added that “now is the time to continue with all our might, to occupy and cleanse the entire Strip, to finally take control of humanitarian aid from Hamas, and to open the gates of hell on Gaza until Hamas surrenders completely and all the hostages are returned.”

There was no immediate comment on the progressing talks from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has threatened in the past to pull his ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party out of the Knesset should a deal be reached that includes an Israeli withdrawal from war-ravaged Gaza. Smotrich has made similar threats, but his missive Monday did not mention bolting the coalition.

The Netanyahu coalition would likely enjoy majority support for a deal even if both far-right parties were to vote against it. The deal would apparently require approval by the security cabinet and by the government, but not a Knesset vote.

Visitors walk through Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, January 13, 2025. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

On Sunday, a political source told the Walla news outlet that Netanyahu was hoping to convince Smotrich to remain in the coalition even if he does not support a deal, with observers assuming that Ben Gvir will quit the government after voting against the agreement.

Members of Otzma Yehudit, Religious Zionism and Netanyahu’s Likud were among 10 MKs to sign a letter rejecting any deal that does not include the release of all hostages at once, requires Israel to cede military control and doesn’t include a mechanism to keep Gazans from returning en masse to the largely destroyed north of Strip.

“We stand against the atmosphere of weakness from inside [Israel] and the aggressive pressure from outside and demand a complete vanquishing [of Hamas] and total victory,” read the letter, which was also signed by the heads of the Tikva and Gvura forums, made up of hawkish relatives of hostages and soldiers killed in Gaza.

“Even if there is a ceasefire deal, you cannot cross these moral red lines [serving] Israel’s security,” the letter added.

Families of hostages and slain soldiers, from the Tikva Forum, hold a press conference at the Knesset on January 13, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Polls show most Israelis support a deal freeing the hostages and ending the war, though there remains some lack of consensus on the scope of concessions Israel should make in return. Many families of hostages have expressed specific concerns regarding the fate of hostages left behind for a second or third stage under the phased deal widely believed to be under consideration.

Reports Monday indicated that the deal had been broadly approved by Israel and was awaiting Hamas’s okay, which was expected to come within hours or days.

It is believed that 94 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

Talks have largely revolved around a proposed three-stage deal in which “humanitarian” cases, including women, children, men over 50 and the infirm, would be released first, followed by talks on securing the release of men of military age, and ending with a third stage that would see discussions on the governance and reconstruction of the Strip. Reports of the terms on Monday evening focused mainly on the first two phases.

Israel would release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange, though the exact numbers and their identities remain unknown.

People walking next to pictures of hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, in Jerusalem, January 12, 2025 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The three-stage deal would also likely see Israeli forces redeploy away from Palestinian population centers and eventually leave the Strip altogether, though questions remain over the post-war governance of the Strip. Smotrich and others in the far right have insisted that the military remain in Gaza to keep Palestinian terrorists from regrouping, their presence bolstered by the reintroduction of civilian settlements uprooted in 2005 that some nationalists have urged be rebuilt.

Backing the emerging agreement, opposition leaders reiterated their offers to support the government in place of the far-right factions should inter-coalition opposition threaten to bring down the coalition over a deal.

“I want to remind Netanyahu again, he doesn’t need them,” opposition leader Lapid said Monday, referring to Smotrich and Ben Gvir.

“I offered him a political safety net for a hostage deal. This offer is valid now, more than ever. If Netanyahu wants to and can make a deal, he and I know how to close the details of the safety net in half an hour,” he added.

Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset on January 13, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

National Unity party head Benny Gantz also offered the “full political backing” of his faction.

“Reaching a plan to return our hostages is a supreme value and a strategic necessity — failing to return them and abandoning them is a national catastrophe,” Gantz said in a swipe at Smotrich.

Others in the coalition also said they backed a deal, including the Agudat Yisrael faction that makes up part of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, which called on the government to “act decisively and quickly, without involving political considerations or other interests.”

MK Yaakov Asher indicated that the Degel Hatorah faction that makes up the other part of UTJ would also back a deal.

“We think we need to save the hostages as quickly as possible and we will give full support to any responsible move the prime minister makes,” he said at a Knesset meeting.

Demonstrators protest against the Israeli government and for the release of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip in Tel Aviv, January 11, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Other meetings saw relatives of hostages express frustration over the fact that no deal had yet been reached, which some have blamed on Netanyahu cowing to narrow political interests, including the stability of his coalition.

During a meeting of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, Yehuda Cohen, the father of soldier Nimrod Cohen being held in Gaza, was accused of prolonging his son’s captivity after he threatened to go to International Criminal Court in The Hague to seek charges against Netanyahu for crimes against Israelis.

“If these [ICC] arrest warrants can make Netanyahu abandon his personal interests and make a deal including the very last hostage, then that is what I will do,” said Cohen.

Your “contemptible words are putting your son in the Hamas-ISIS dungeons for many more years,” Likud MK Eliyahu Revivo screamed at Cohen in reply. “Who do you think you are?”

Families of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip attend a Finance committee meeting at the Knesset on January 13, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Elsewhere in the parliament, Ofir Angrest, whose brother Matan Angrest has been held in Gaza since October 7, accused Smotrich of “sacrificing and executing” his brother, a soldier.

“I want to stand here and show you who you are sacrificing — Sgt. Matan Angrest, kidnapped, seriously injured, lost all his friends, whom you are executing,” Ofir Angrest told the treasury chief at a Finance Committee meeting at the Knesset.

Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

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