Liberman slams government for continuing aid to Gaza; calls for hostage deal even if it ends the war

By Sam Sokol 30 June 2025, 3:32 pm

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Sam 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"

Yisrael Beytenu party chairman MK Avigdor Liberman leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on June 9, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Yisrael Betyenu chairman Avigdor Liberman slams the government for continuing to transfer humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“Hamas lives, breathes and kicks today only because of the humanitarian aid that the October 7 government is pouring into Gaza,” the hawkish opposition politician tells reporters ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.

“I receive calls every day from soldiers who are in Gaza and are securing the trucks. This is chaos, anarchy and a great mess. And worse, the open-fire orders only allow them to fire at close range and they feel their lives are in danger,” Liberman says, arguing that “there has never been a country that during a war has transferred medicine, fuel and food to the enemy.”

“In addition, the government is sending reserve soldiers to take down buildings and structures by hand, there are no excavators and bulldozers, and they are told that there is no budget for advanced armored personnel carriers but there are hundreds of millions of shekels for humanitarian aid at the expense of Israeli taxpayers,” he adds.

“Can anyone imagine that the Allies in World War II would have supplied the Nazis with medicine, water, fuel, and food?” he asks.

He calls on the government to “reach an agreement to return all the hostages, even at the cost of stopping the war and withdrawing from the Gaza Strip” before pursuing “a policy identical to that in Lebanon.”

“Since the ceasefire, the army has eliminated 200 Hezbollah operatives. We will pursue every terrorist who participated in the October 7 massacre, until his last day,” Liberman says.

Asked about his Sunday meeting with ex-justice minister Ayelet Shaked, a longtime political ally of former prime minister Naftali Bennett, Liberman replies that he has been meeting with her on a regular basis “for many years” and that his food was “delicious.”

As for whether the meeting portents a wider alliance on the anti-Netanyahu right, Liberman jokes that “anyone who wants to join Yisrael Beytenu” is welcome, telling journalists that they are also welcome to join the party.