From the Liveblog of
Sunday, March 2, 2025
Coalition lawmakers welcome Netanyahu’s decision to stop entry of aid into Gaza
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Coalition lawmakers welcome Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to not let any more aid enter Gaza, citing Hamas’s refusal to accept what Israel says is an American proposal to extend phase one of the ceasefire through Passover and Ramadan alongside more hostage releases.
Netanyahu’s decision “to completely halt the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza until Hamas is destroyed or completely surrenders and all our hostages are returned is an important step in the right direction,” tweets Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Israel needs to open the “gates of hell… as quickly and in as deadly a manner as possible” until Israel reaches “complete victory,” he states, adding that his Religious Zionism party had stayed in the government despite opposing the ceasefire agreement with Hamas in order to ensure such an outcome.
“The decision to halt the entry of humanitarian aid until the hostages are returned is important and correct,” tweets Education Minister Yoav Kisch. “Israel must continue to pressure Hamas with all the tools at its disposal, while cooperating with the American administration until the last of the hostages is returned.”
According to Israel’s account of the proposal, half of the remaining hostages — living and dead — would be released on the first day of the extended first phase of the ceasefire, and the remaining captives would be released at the end of the period if a permanent truce is reached.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi says that “all of the hostages” must return home “immediately” or Israel will rain “fire and brimstone on the despicable terrorists without mercy.”
“The Jews will have light and joy, and the Nazis will have the gates of hell open today,” he writes on X.
Former national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whose Otzma Yehudit party left the coalition to protest the hostage-ceasefire agreement with Hamas, welcomes Netanyahu’s decision “if it is indeed implemented” and says that it is “better late than never.”
“This should be the policy until the last of the hostages is returned,” he says in a statement.
“Now is the time to open the gates of hell, stop the electricity and water, return to war, and — most importantly — not to settle for just half of the hostages, but to return to President Trump’s ultimatum: all the hostages immediately or all hell will break loose in Gaza.”
The Times of Israel Community.