Lapid: Netanyahu has ‘safety net’ for hostage deal; vows not to demand quid pro quo

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid pledges that his Yesh Atid party will support any hostage deal, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right partners vow to oppose the ceasefire agreement presented to Israel.

Lapid’s party, the Knesset’s second-largest, has 24 seats. The opposition leader says he will not demand anything in return from the premier for approving the truce.

“I remind Netanyahu that I have a safety net of 24 votes for any hostage deal,” Lapid posts on X Thursday morning. “He doesn’t even need to give anything in exchange, just bring them home.”

Yesterday, the Kan public broadcaster reported that Benny Gantz’s centrist opposition party, Blue and White-National Unity, is considering joining the government to support a hostage deal.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, meanwhile, has vowed to resign if the deal is approved, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whose party briefly left the government earlier this year during a previous ceasefire,  claims that the premier has “no mandate” for the deal.

Support from Lapid’s and Gantz’s parties, together with Netanyahu’s Likud, would give the agreement a majority in the Knesset.

The deal on the table, which Hamas has agreed to, would reportedly free 10 living hostages in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners during a 60-day ceasefire.

Netanyahu’s cabinet has yet to meet to discuss the proposal, and is advancing a plan to conquer Gaza City. Polls show that most Israelis support a deal to return the hostages and end the war.