Otzma Yehudit to leave coalition on Sunday in protest of hostage-ceasefire deal

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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"

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir holds a press conference together with members of his far-right Otzma Yehudit party in Jerusalem, January 16, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir holds a press conference together with members of his far-right Otzma Yehudit party in Jerusalem, January 16, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

Members of the Otzma Yehudit party will submit their letters of resignation from the government on Sunday morning to protest its acceptance of the hostage-ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right party had threatened to pull out of the coalition should Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet accept the deal, which is set to go into effect on Sunday morning.

“In light of the approval of the reckless agreement with the terrorist organization Hamas…” the Otzma Yehudit party will submit letters of resignation from the government and the coalition tomorrow morning, and ministers Ben Gvir, Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Amichai Eliyahu, as well as committee chairs MKs Zvika Fogel and Limor Son Har-Melech and MK Yitzhak Kroizer, will leave their positions,” the far-right party says in a statement.

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