Opposition and most of coalition unite in praising agreement to return hostages

There was an outpouring of support, gladness and hope from lawmakers on both sides of the Knesset on Thursday after US President Donald Trump overnight announced an agreement on a deal that would see the release of all hostages held by Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip.

Ministers and lawmakers thanked Trump for his efforts to secure the deal between Israel and Hamas, and looked forward to seeing the hostages, both alive and dead, back in Israel. President Isaac Herzog said there was “no doubt” his US counterpart should get the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in securing the deal. However, there was opposition to parts of the deal among the coalition’s far-right flank.

“A great day for Israel. [On Thursday] I will convene the government to approve the agreement and bring all our dear hostages home,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement from his office.

“I thank the brave IDF soldiers and all the security forces — it is thanks to their courage and sacrifice that we have reached this day,” he added.

“With God’s help, together we will continue to achieve all our goals and expand peace with our neighbors.”

"I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan… BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!" – President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/lAUxi1UPYh

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 8, 2025

Trump predicted that the 48 hostages held in Gaza could be back in Israel by Monday. The captives were among 251 abducted from southern Israel on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating invasion of southern Israel, triggering the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. Trump’s framework for releasing the hostages, of whom 20 are believed still alive, is the first stage of a broader plan to end the grinding war. The cabinet was to meet later Thursday to approve the agreement.

Herzog called it “a morning of historic and momentous news.”

He offered his thanks to Netanyahu, the negotiating team and the mediators.

He also extended his “deepest thanks” to Trump for his “incredible leadership toward securing the release of the hostages, bringing an end to the war, and creating hope for a new reality in the Middle East. There is no doubt that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for this.” Trump has been leading a monthslong campaign urging the Nobel committee to give him the award, which is handed out on Friday.

Herzog said that if Trump visits Israel in the coming days, “he will be received with immense respect, affection and gratitude by the people of Israel.”

“This agreement will bring moments of indescribable relief to the dear families who have not slept for 733 days,” said Herzog. “This agreement offers a chance to mend, to heal, and to open a new horizon of hope for our region.”

“They shall return from the land of the enemy… and children shall return to their own borders,” he added, quoting a verse from the biblical book of Jeremiah that was also repeated by several others in their messages of support.

In a Hebrew-language version of the same statement, Herzog also noted “cost of the agreement and the complex effort to bring everyone back,” a reference to the expected requirement that Israel release close to 2,000 Palestinian security prisoners, including hundreds who were convicted of deadly terror attacks against Israelis.

“It will bring with it difficult and painful moments that are a necessity in the reality we live in,” he continued.

Defense Minister Israel Katz praised Trump and Netanyahu “for the leadership that led to the deal,” as well as “the heroic IDF soldiers whose courage, determination, and incredible sacrifice brought us to this great moment.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar hailed the deal in a post on X, praising Israel for passing “a moral and ethical test” through its commitment to freeing the hostages. He went on to praise Netanyahu and then Trump for their work to reach the deal, but warned that “Israel’s challenges are not over.”

There were further welcoming messages expressing hope that the hostages will soon return home from Transportation Minister Miri Regev and Economy Minister Nir Barkat, among others.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi appeared to frame the deal with Hamas as a complete victory, while Justice Minister Yariv Levin came out in favor of the Gaza deal while noting that it includes “harsh costs.”

“Releasing terrorists is a very high price. We will continue to act to ensure that Hamas never again possesses weapons or rules the Gaza Strip. There will no longer be a forward terrorist base right up against our borders,” he said, adding that “the entire people of Israel woke up to a morning of great triumph” because “the dear hostages are returning home.”

Shas party chief Aryeh Deri also gave his support for the deal, thanked Trump, and expressed hope that the hostages will soon be home. Fellow ultra-Orthodox party, United Torah Judaism, did not immediately respond to the news of the deal, although it has been vocally supportive throughout the negotiations.

Ministerial dissent

Unlike other members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that his far-right Religious Zionism party will not vote in support of the deal.

Smotrich expressed “mixed emotions,” saying that while he feels “immense joy” at the pending return of the hostages, he feels “tremendous fear of the consequences of emptying the prisons and releasing the next generation of terrorist leaders, who will do everything to continue spilling rivers of Jewish blood, God forbid.”

As such, he said, “We cannot join in the short-sighted celebrations or vote in favor of the deal.”

Speaking with the Ynet news site, Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock, a member of Smotrich’s party, praised some of the deal’s achievements but added that the party could bolt the government over the issue. “[I don’t] know how it’s morally possible to remain in a government that does Oslo III, sends soldiers to fight and says — we gave up on these goals,” she said, alluding to the pair of Oslo Accords from the 1990s that established the Palestinian Authority and were meant to lead to peace.

While Otzma Yehudit party chairman and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir did not immediately weigh in on the deal, the ultranationalist minister recently threatened to bolt the government if Hamas “continues to exist” after the hostages are freed. Earlier this year, Ben Gvir’s party quit the coalition for several months to protest the acceptance of a previous, partial deal.

Meanwhile, Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, a member of Ben Gvir’s party, cheered the agreement, saying “everyone will return home… without anyone remaining behind.” But party MK Limor Son Har-Melech warned on the right-wing Israel National News news site that the release of terrorists from Israeli prisons would only lead to more violence in the future.

Trump invited to Hostages Square

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid thanked Trump, saying that Israel was “waiting for our children with bated breath.”

Lapid endorsed the Hostages and Missing Families Forum’s call for US President Donald Trump to deliver a public address in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. Trump earlier told Channel 12 news that he was looking to visit Israel in the coming days and would likely address the Knesset, although his plans have not yet been officially confirmed.

“There is nothing more fitting, more symbolic, more moving than a speech by President Trump in Hostages Square with the return home of our hostages. It would be a historic moment. I congratulate the families on the initiative,” tweeted Lapid.

In a later statement, the Yesh Atid party chairman added that “no one deserves the Nobel Peace Prize more” than Trump, who also has “the eternal gratitude of the people of Israel.”

“All our hearts are with the 48 families, hoping and praying for the release of everyone — the living to the bosoms of their loved ones, and the dead for a proper burial in the soil of Israel,” Blue and White party chief Benny Gantz wrote on social media.

However, “the task is not yet complete,” Gantz declared, arguing that Israel must prepare militarily to protect itself and to “ensure the implementation of the framework in full, including the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.”

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who allied with Lapid and Gantz in the previous government and is now planning a political comeback as the head of a new party, thanked Trump for his “unprecedented involvement and dedication,” declaring in a statement that “the hearts of the entire people of Israel are with the families who will finally be reunited with their loved ones, living and dead.” He also paid homage to troops and their families.

Yair Golan, who leads The Democrats left-wing opposition party, thanked Trump but not Netanyahu, stating that after the hostages return, Israelis can begin the work of “rebuilding a strong, democratic and just Israel.”

An end to ‘genocide’

The deal was also praised by the Arab-majority Hadash-Ta’al party, whose lawmakers claimed that the deal would bring an end to the ‘genocide’ in Gaza.

“I’m happy that both sides have reached an agreement on the first stage of the deal to end the war. I’m deeply happy for the mothers who will hug their sons tight, and for the children who will finally hug their parents again,” tweeted party chairman Ayman Odeh, without specifying if he is referring to hostages or Palestinian security prisoners.

Odeh came under fire during the last hostage release deal earlier this year, when he said he was “happy for the release of the hostages and prisoners.”

Ofer Cassif, the party’s only Jewish lawmaker, said that the “great excitement and joy over the signing of the first stage of the agreement to end the genocide and release the hostages” is “mixed with terrible pain and rage over the loss of tens of thousands of innocent people.”

Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 48 hostages, including 47 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 26 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Among the bodies held by Hamas is an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.