Opposition leaders, accusing PM of indecision, urge no Qatari, Turkish troops in Gaza

By Sam Sokol 20 October 2025, 4:26 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"

A composite image shows Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman (L), Opposition Leader Yair Lapid (C), and Blue and White - National Unity chairman Benny Gantz (R), at their respective faction meetings at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on July 14, 2025. (All photos Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The leaders of the opposition open the Knesset winter legislative session with scathing criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s handling of national security, including its response to yesterday’s ceasefire violation by Hamas.

Addressing reporters ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said that Israel needs a “zero-tolerance policy towards any violation of the ceasefire” although he cautioned that Israel’s goal should not be to go back to war.

“Hamas was not defeated because Netanyahu does not know how to defeat it. The way to defeat it is to bring an effective Egyptian government in its place, and to make a constant effort, military and political, with the understanding that we will not stop until Hamas is destroyed, even if it takes time,” he adds — arguing that Turkey and Qatar cannot be allowed to send peacekeeping troops to Gaza.

A multinational team meant to help secure the Gaza Strip following the end of Israel’s war with Hamas will likely be headed up by Egypt, The Guardian reported on Saturday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told Trump that Ankara was also prepared to send forces to Gaza, although Arab officials have repeatedly told The Times of Israel that the United Arab Emirates and Qatar do not intend to contribute troops.

A Palestinian man carries a box of food from the World Food Programme (WFP) after collecting it in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

At his Yisrael Beytenu party’s faction meeting, Avigdor Liberman accuses the government of exhibiting “the same defeatism and the same containment” as before October 7, arguing that instead of renewing the war in response to Hamas’ violation, Netanyahu “forced a ceasefire” on the IDF.

While Israeli troops were being killed, Netanyahu was busy in the cabinet renaming the war the “War of Revival,” he adds.

Israel must put “the seizure of additional territory beyond the Yellow Line” on the table, argues Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz, referring to the line separating Hamas and Israeli areas of control in Gaza.

“Yesterday’s response was too little, and too short,” Gantz says, even as he warns Israel “must not immediately return to war.”

“Hamas must understand that there is a painful price for its violations,” he says, warning that installing an international administration in Gaza will take a long time and that “we cannot entrust our security to soldiers from other countries, whether from Turkey or Qatar.”

“Whoever thinks that a government of national unity means sitting in a government of Netanyahu and the extremists is living in a fantasy. Whoever says we will be Netanyahu’s 61st yes vote is lying and telling you a story he wants to sell,” he adds.