Smotrich: Facing defeat and panicking, Sinwar might take the latest proposal; we need to step up IDF pressure

Speaking in Sderot, Religious Zionism party leader Bezalel Smotrich says Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar is facing defeat and might suddenly accept a ceasefire hostage deal “to save himself” and Hamas. This, he says, is therefore the time to increase IDF military pressure in Gaza.

“We see more and more indications that Hamas is breaking, and there are more and more elements who feel that [Hamas] is a moment away from the end,” says the finance minister.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if suddenly, after months of refusal, Sinwar decides to respond positively to the proposal he received for a deal,” says Smotrich, who last month threatened to bring down the government if it goes ahead with its latest hostage-ceasefire offer, which Hamas has not accepted.

Sinwar, he says, “is panicking, because he understands that we are close to victory, and he will want to save himself and Hamas’s rule in Gaza, so that he can return and rebuild its power, and again become part of Iran’s conventional [military] plan for the destruction [of Israel] in the next round.”

This, therefore, is “precisely not the time to stop,” says Smotrich. “This is not the time to take our foot off the gas. On the contrary. This is the moment to send in more forces [to Gaza] and turn up the military pressure.”