Smotrich reportedly says party won’t quit coalition over Gaza aid, touts upcoming ‘strategic maneuver’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told lawmakers from his Religious Zionism party overnight that the faction would not quit the coalition despite the government’s announcement that it would facilitate the entry of aid into Gaza, contrary to the party’s position, Hebrew-language media reports.

“It’s wrong to make political considerations during a war,” Smotrich reportedly wrote to his faction members, adding: “We’ll be judged for results — defeating Hamas.”

He is also said to have added: “We’re promoting a good strategic maneuver, which should not be elaborated right now. We’ll know soon if it succeeds and where we’re headed.”

Hebrew media reported yesterday that Smotrich held an extraordinary faction meeting to weigh quitting the government over the aid announcement, which followed intense international pressure amid growing global outrage over reports that significant portions of Gaza’s population are severely malnourished and experiencing famine-like conditions.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who also opposes the flow of aid into Gaza, convened a similar meeting of his own Otzma Yehudit party, according to the reports.

Ben Gvir is courting Smotrich to form a bloc within the coalition against aid to Gaza, Channel 12 reports.

However, the network quotes a senior coalition source as saying: “The method of ceaseless threats weakens those making the threats, but [it] mainly [weakens] the government on the eve of historic decisions.”

“[We] can’t have the public in Israel and the world thinking that everything that happens is the result of blackmail by Smotrich and Ben Gvir,” the sources is quoted as saying. “If it goes on like this, it’s better to agree on [new] elections and in the months till then do what is really needed on the Gaza, hostages and normalization fronts.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to have the military enact daily “humanitarian pauses” in fighting and increase aid delivery to the Gaza Strip was made without the input of Smotrich and Ben Gvir, according to a report published Sunday