Ben Gvir announces his party will oppose ceasefire and hostage-release deal

By Ariela Karmel

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9 October 2025, 10:03 pm

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Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir seen at the entrance to the Temple Mount, before entering, in Jerusalem's Old City, on October 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH9)

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says his Otzma Yehudit party will vote against the first phase of the ceasefire deal announced today, in which Palestinian prisoners will be released in exchange for all 48 Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Ben Gvir’s party is not exiting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition now, but he warns that if Hamas is not dismantled, Otzma Yehudit will “bring down the government.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a fellow far-right leader, likewise announced that his Religious Zionism party would oppose the deal.

The cabinet is currently convening to vote on the deal and is expected to approve it, following a more than three-hour delay over Ben Gvir’s demands regarding the list of 250 Palestinian security prisoners serving life sentences who are slated to be released.

“Our hearts are filled with joy, happiness and excitement that all the hostages are expected to return home,” the minister says in a statement. “But alongside this joy, we must not — under any circumstances — ignore the question of the price: the release of thousands of terrorists, including 250 murderers who are expected to be freed from prisons.”

As a result, he says, Otzma Yehudit cannot vote “in favor of a deal that releases those murderous terrorists, and we will oppose it in the government.”

Ben Gvir adds that he reiterated to Netanyahu that he would not remain in “a government that allows Hamas’s rule in Gaza to continue.”

He says the prime minister assured him this would not happen, but he adds: “If Hamas’s rule is not dismantled, or if we are merely told that it has been dismantled while in reality it continues to exist under another guise — Otzma Yehudit will bring down the government.”

If Ben Gvir and Smotrich exit the current 60-seat government, which lacks a parliamentary majority, it would be left with only 47 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, potentially triggering new elections.

Still, opposition parties have promised Netanyahu a “safety net” to prevent the fall of the government so long as it advances Trump’s Gaza deal.