Israeli minister reveals he will vote AGAINST the next round of hostage releases as he says the ‘deal signals weakness’

An Israeli minister has revealed he will oppose the second stage of the hostage release deal with Hamas, claiming it ‘signals weakness.’

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli told a gathering of Jewish-American leaders on Sunday said he was planning to push back against Israel’s deal with Hamas due to the price the nation will have to pay. 

‘I will oppose the second stage of the deal in the government, just like I did the first,’ he told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations. 

‘This deal signals weakness. I cannot vote in favour of the next terror victims’, he added. 

‘This deal includes the release of 700 terrorists – terror experts with records of dozens of attacks who killed hundreds of Israelis and wounded thousands,’ he said. These are the same terrorists responsible for the Second Intifada and for other severe attacks.’

Chikli refused to follow up on his comments, which came as Hamas sent a chilling message by ‘gifting’ one of the released hostages an hourglass bearing a photograph of a kidnapped Israeli man still held in Gaza and the words ‘time is running out’.

The disquieting offering was given to Israeli-Argentinian Yair Horn, 46, who was released on Saturday morning alongside Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen and Israeli-Russian Sasha Troufanov, 29.

An image of Matan Tsengauker, 25, who was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, and one of his mother, also featured beneath the hourglass, which was placed prominently by a Hamas terrorist onto a makeshift stage.

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli (pictured) told a gathering of Jewish-American leaders on Sunday said he was planning to push back against Israel ‘s deal with Hamas

Released hostage Iair Horn, who was seized during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, reunites with his family at Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov) in Tel Aviv, Israel, in this handout image obtained on February 15, 2025

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, present Israeli hostage Yair Horn with an hourglass with the photo of one of the hostages, Matan Tsengauker and his mother, and the words ‘time is running out’

The hourglass is a symbol that has been repeatedly used in ‘proof of life’ videos released by Hamas of the hostages.

His mother, Einav, said last September that she believed her son was alive and being held alongside ten other living hostages. 

The three men were released by Hamas in exchange for 369 Palestinian prisoners, amid concerns the ceasefire would collapse before the sixth such exchange could take place. 

Following the release of the hostages, the Palestinian prisoners were freed – with four being taken to hospital due to their ‘critical health condition’, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. 

Israel and Hamas have each accused the other of violating the January 19 ceasefire, with the Palestinian group saying it would pause releases in response – and Israel threatening the resumption of war in the Gaza Strip. 

But on Friday both sides signalled the hostage release scheduled for Saturday would go ahead. 

On Saturday morning, dozens of Hamas fighters lined up in the main southern city of Khan Yunis around a stage bearing the logo of the group’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades.

Sources from Hamas and Islamic Jihad said the groups had deployed about 200 militants for the handover ceremony.

Hamas presented Israeli hostage Yair Horn with an hourglass and a photograph of one of the hostages still held, Matan Tsengauker and his mother, with the words ‘time is running out’

An Al-Qassam Brigades soldier unwraps the hourglass with a message presented to Yair Horn

They have been held by Gaza terrorists since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said Israel was to release 369 inmates in exchange, with 24 of them expected to be deported.

The vast majority, 333 people, are ‘prisoners from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after October 7’, the group said.

After the crisis that appeared to bring the truce to a breaking point, Hamas said on Friday it expected talks on a second phase of the ceasefire to begin early next week.

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk