Smotrich says Gaza war must continue, but doesn’t say if he will try to thwart hostage deal
Far-right finance minister reportedly haggling over emerging Hamas ceasefire agreement with Netanyahu, who is said to offer West Bank settlement boost if he stays in government

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich insisted Wednesday that the war in the Gaza Strip must continue, but did not explicitly say whether he will back or oppose an emerging ceasefire deal to release hostages held by Hamas in the Palestinian enclave.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly pressuring Smotrich to resist a call from allied far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to exit the government if it approves the hostage agreement on the table.
After several consultations on Tuesday, including meetings with Netanyahu and his associates, Smotrich, who leads the Religious Zionism party, issued a video statement on social media saying, “We are at a crucial and fateful moment for the security, future, and existence of the State of Israel.”
But Smotrich did not indicate how he plans to act regarding the hostage deal, stating that his only priority is “how to fully achieve the goals of the war, total victory, the complete military and civil destruction of Hamas, and returning the hostages home.”
“I won’t rest or be silent until we achieve these goals,” he said.
Smotrich has previously opposed similar ceasefire proposals in the Gaza war, which began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led thousands of terrorists in an attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw 251 abducted as hostages to Gaza. But he ultimately backed November 2023’s one-week truce in which 105 hostages were released.
On Sunday, Smotrich said his party “will not be part of” the hostage-ceasefire deal, which he called a “catastrophe for Israel’s national security,” but did not elaborate.

Smotrich’s statement came a day after Ben Gvir called on him to join him in rejecting the deal and bolting the government if it goes through.
The government will have a majority to approve the ceasefire deal even if Smotrich and Ben Gvir back out, but Netanyahu is reportedly seeking the broadest possible support for the agreement. Were both the far-right parties to bolt his coalition, however, it would lose its Knesset majority.
Smotrich held meetings with his advisers, West Bank settlement leaders, and rabbis, on Tuesday, Channel 13 reported.
According to the unsourced report, Smotrich has laid down a series of demands from Netanyahu to secure his support for the emerging deal.
Those include that there be no change to the government’s declared war goals of bringing the hostages home and destroying Hamas. The minister wants a mechanism put in place to ensure those goals are maintained, the report said.
Those in Netanyahu’s orbit believe Ben Gvir will not leave the government without Smotrich and that is the reason why pressure is being exerted on the latter, according to Channel 13.
During their meeting, Netanyahu impressed on Smotrich that Israel cannot afford to miss the opportunities stemming from the incoming Trump administration, which is expected to be more supportive of Israel than US President Joe Biden’s administration was. Netanyahu was also said to tell Smotrich that it is unclear when there would be another chance for a hostage deal if one is not sealed now.

The Kan public broadcaster reported that Netanyahu has offered Smotrich and Ben Gvir “gains for the right” in return for them remaining in the government.
Those gains would mean settlement construction in the West Bank and boosted security along the seamline between that territory and Israel. According to the report, Smotrich and Ben Gvir would both be able to claim credit for those developments, making the offer attractive to Ben Gvir, who would otherwise see Smotrich take all the honors.
Both Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehud party and Smotrich’s Religious Zionism draw their support from settlement-supporting voters.
Though Smotrich has not yet made clear how he will act if the proposed hostage deal goes to a cabinet vote, MK Ohad Tal of his party called Tuesday on Trump to oppose the hostage deal that his own envoy Steve Witkoff is currently working to finalize in Doha along with Biden’s aide Brett McGurk.
“The current deal, which was pushed by the Biden administration, is a horrible deal that will roll back all of Israel’s achievements of the past year,” he said at a prayer breakfast at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Tal said that Trump, “more than any other leader in the world,” knows how “to differentiate between good and evil and I call on you from here from this important podium not to support a deal that will leave this total evil of Hamas in power; not to support a deal that will leave back the vast majority of the hostages.”
A last-minute attempt in Mar a Lago to convince Trump not to support the hostage agreement that is about to be signed. Knesset member @MKOhadTal chairman of the “Religious Zionist” faction said at a conference held at this time in Mar-a-Lago that "we want a deal that will return… pic.twitter.com/fXO39p0MlF
— Ariel Kahana אריאל כהנא (@arik3000) January 14, 2025
Calling Trump’s recent electoral win a “spiritual victory for the values we all treasure,” Tal criticized “wokeism” and said that the incoming administration provides “an opportunity to apply full Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, the heart of our ancestral homeland.”
Trump did not attend the event.
Many officials have said this week that a deal to end the 15-month war is around the corner, with 33 hostages to go free in the first, 42-day phase in exchange for a partial Israeli withdrawal and the release of many hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners, including more than 150 terrorists serving heavy prison terms for murdering Israelis.
The three-stage deal is envisioned as ultimately securing the release of all the 98 hostages, ending the war, and rebuilding Gaza with security mechanisms for Israel.
It is believed that 94 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.