Lapid says government was ‘dragged into the agreement with Hezbollah,’ urges hostage deal

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid hits out at the government over the Lebanon ceasefire deal, charging that it was “dragged into the agreement with Hezbollah” after more than a year of fighting.

“Meanwhile, northern communities were destroyed, the lives of the residents were destroyed, the army has been worn down while you’re advancing evasion laws,” Lapid says in a statement, referring to legislation to exempt ultra-Orthodox men from mandatory military service.

Lapid says that the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and aerial campaign against Hezbollah’s stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut are “operational successes worthy of all praise, but the October 7 government did not know how to turn them into a diplomatic win.”

“Under Netanyahu’s watch, the greatest disaster happened in our history, no deal with Hezbollah will erase the abandonments. No statement to the press will change history,” Lapid adds.

He also calls for Israel to swiftly reach a hostage deal that will end the fighting with Hamas in Gaza.