Two far-right Israeli ministers have threatened to resigned and collapse Benjamin Netanyahu’s already-precarious government if he accepts the Gaza ceasefire deal proposal unveiled by Joe Biden on Friday.
National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich both said they did not want to see Israel take a deal before Hamas was totally destroyed.
But in a surprise twist, opposition leader Yair Lapid said he would back the government if Netanyahu wanted to go through with the plan.
Biden unveiled the three-part proposal, which would, if signed by Hamas and Israel, begin with a six-week ceasefire and the full withdrawal of the IDF from populated areas of the Gaza Strip.
The deal would also see the eventual release of all the hostages Hamas took on October 7, a permanent ‘cessation of hostilities’, and a full reconstruction of Gaza, much of which has been destroyed by the war.
National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (pictured, left) and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich (pictured, right) both said they did not want to see Israel take a deal
Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) has seemingly poured cold water on Biden’s plan
Joe Biden (pictured) unveiled the proposals on Friday
The deal infuriated Smotrich, who in April called for the ‘total annihilation’ of the Gaza Strip, said in a post to X: ‘I will not be part of a government that will agree to the proposed outline and end the war without destroying Hamas and returning all the abductees.
‘We will not agree to the end of the war before the destruction of Hamas, nor to a serious damage to the achievements of the war so far through the withdrawal of the IDF and the return of Gazans to the north of the Gaza Strip, nor to the wholesale release of terrorists who will return, God forbid, to murder Jews.
‘We demand the continuation of the fighting until the destruction of Hamas and the return of all the abductees, the creation of a completely different security reality in Gaza and Lebanon, the return of all residents to their homes in the north and south and a massive investment in the accelerated development of these areas of the country.’
Ben-Gvir followed suit, calling the deal ‘a victory for terrorism.’
He said on X: ‘This is a promiscuous deal, which is a victory for terrorism and a security danger to the State of Israel. Agreeing to such a deal is not the absolute victory – but the absolute defeat.
Mounted Israeli police try to disperse a demonstration by relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza
A woman clad in an Israeli national flag holds a mock torch during a demonstration by relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian Hamas militants
‘We will not allow the end of the war without the complete elimination of Hamas.
‘If the prime minister implements the promiscuous deal under the conditions published today, which mean the end of the war and the renouncing of Hamas, Otzma Yehudit will dissolve the government.’
Lapid, meanwhile, said the two ministers’ threats to resign ‘neglects national security, the abductees and the residents of the north and the south.’
‘This is the worst and most promiscuous government in the country’s history. For them, there will be a war here forever, zero responsibility, zero management, a complete failure’, he said on X.
He also told Netanyahu that he had ‘our safety net for a hostage deal if Ben-Gvir and Smotrich leave the government.’
As Netanyahu faces an internal battle for control of his government and his country, as thousands took to the streets to protest the Israeli leader for his failure to get the hostages back home, he is also being forced to fend off more and more detractors on the world stage.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric said Saturday his country was joining South Africa in its case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of ‘genocide’ in the war against Hamas.
Smoke rises near a makeshift camp for displaced Palestinians in the area of Tel al-Sultan in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 30, 2024
Smoke billows following Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 31, 2024
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike where displaced people were staying in Rafah, Gaza Strip
Speaking to the National Congress, Boric decried the ‘catastrophic humanitarian situation’ in Gaza and called for ‘a firm response from the international community.’
‘Chile will become a party to and support the case that South Africa presented against Israel before the International Court of Justice in The Hague,’ Boric said.
The ICJ is considering South Africa’s case, but in the interim has brought in ‘preliminary measures’ ordering Israel do everything it could to prevent acts of genocide during its campaign against Hamas.
The top UN court last month ordered Israel to halt military operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where displaced Palestinians are seeking safety from Israel’s military offensive.
Before the Rafah offensive began, the United Nations said up to 1.4 million people were sheltering in the city.
Since then, one million have fled the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said.
Chile has recognized Palestine as a state since 2011, and Boric has previously said the war in Gaza has ‘no justification’ and is ‘unacceptable.’
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,379 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
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