Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar of the Likud party on Thursday downplayed threats by Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to withdraw from the government and dismantle it if an agreement with Hamas to end the war on the Gaza Strip is accepted.
In response to repeated threats by Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to withdraw from the government if a deal is struck, Zohar, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that if the government approves a deal, all ministers will approve it as well.
Zohar attacked Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, saying that their ability to bring down the government is very limited because their situation would be very bad if they resigned in protest against the deal, considering that Ben-Gvir’s withdrawal from the government would be devastating for him.
Zohar supported the formation of a unity government that would save the Israelis from division, but he said that a swap deal should be reached regardless of a unity government.
He said the deal was very close a few months ago, but “things went wrong,” noting that military pressure was putting the lives of detainees at risk, as he described it.
Both Smotrich (leader of the Religious Zionism party) and Ben-Gvir (leader of the Jewish Power party) call for reoccupying Gaza as happened between 1967 and 2005 and re-establishing settlements there.
Reject new terms
Yesterday, Hamas confirmed that it would not set any new demands and rejected any new conditions in the negotiations with Israel, and renewed its continued positivity and flexibility to reach a ceasefire agreement and the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army from the entire Gaza Strip.
Hamas stressed its readiness to immediately implement the ceasefire agreement based on US President Joe Biden’s announcement last May.
Netanyahu insists on continuing to occupy the Netzarim Corridor, which divides the Gaza Strip into north and south, the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphi Corridor on the border with Egypt, while Hamas insists on a complete withdrawal of the Israeli army.
Israeli negotiators, prisoners’ families and opposition leaders say Netanyahu’s new conditions hinder a deal with Hamas and threaten the lives of prisoners.