Ben Gvir says his Otzma Yehudit party will quit government if hostage-ceasefire deal is approved, implemented

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir speaks at a press conference, January 16, 2025. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir speaks at a press conference, January 16, 2025. (Screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir says his Otzma Yehudit party will leave the coalition if the government approves and implements the hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas that was announced yesterday by mediators.

In a press conference, Ben Gvir says the deal, which includes the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners from Israel, will enable the rehabilitation of terror groups in Gaza and bring back the threat to residents in border areas.

“Hundreds of terrorist murderers” will be freed, he warns, and there will be “thousands of terrorists” among Gazans allowed to return to the north of the Strip. Furthermore, Israel will be withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border and ending the war before its goals are attained, he charges. Israel will be throwing away “all of the achievements” of the war to date.

He also warns that the current deal will not see the release of all hostages held in Gaza, repeating his claim from earlier this week that it “seals the fate of the rest of the hostages who are not included in the death deal.”

Ben Gvir calls on members of fellow far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, and “ideological” members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, to act in accordance with their stated opposition to the agreement.

Hebrew media has assessed that the security cabinet will approve the deal tomorrow even without the support of Ben Gvir and Smotrich, and that the full cabinet will also approve it.

Without the six-strong Otzma Yehudit, Netanyahu’s coalition would still have a majority in the 120-seat Knesset — 62-58. Without Smotrich’s 8-strong Religious Zionism, it would lose its majority, though opposition parties have promised to give the coalition a “safety net” to advance and see through the deal

If the government returns to fighting Hamas after the ceasefire, Ben Gvir says in the press conference, his party will offer to rejoin the government.

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