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Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Saturday he would resign from Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government in protest of a ceasefire and the release of hostages from Hamas.
The Israeli government agreed to a multiphase deal – which will end the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and pave the way for the release of 98 hostages still being held there – early Saturday.
But some right-wing members of the cabinet voted against the deal, and Ben-Gvir later said he would follow through on his earlier threat to leave the government on Sunday, when the first phase of the six-week deal — which he called “dreadful” — would begin.
Despite the departure of Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party, Netanyahu's coalition will retain a slim two-seat majority in Israel's 120-seat parliament because his colleague Bezalel Smotrich – Israel's finance minister – looks set to remain in government.
Earlier this week Smotrich threatened to withdraw from the government if Israel did not resume the war when the first phase of the agreement – in which Hamas is set to release 33 prisoners in return for the release of 1,900 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons – expires. a period of six weeks.
He reiterated that threat on Saturday, but said Netanyahu was committed to reforming the military regime and aimed for “a gradual takeover of the entire Gaza Strip”.
“Look at Gaza, it's destroyed, it can't last, and it will stay this way,” he said in a Telegram statement. “Do not be carried away by the forced joy of our enemy . . . Soon, we will erase their smiles again and replace them with wails of pain and tears of those left behind. “
In a pre-recorded short speech published on Saturday evening, Netanyahu said that the administrations of both the outgoing US President Joe Biden and his successor Donald Trump support Israel's right to resume the war if negotiations on the details of the second phase fail.
“If we have to go back to fighting, we will do it in new ways, and we will do it with great force,” Netanyahu said.
Earlier on Saturday, Qatar's foreign ministry said the ceasefire would begin at 8.30am local time (6.30am GMT) on Sunday. Later that day, Hamas is expected to release three hostages and Israel will release 95 Palestinian prisoners in the first exchange under the deal.
However, showing the weakness of the arrangements, Netanyahu said on Saturday evening that Israel would not move forward with the deal until Hamas provided a list of hostages to be released. “Israel will not tolerate violations of the agreement,” he said.
If the agreement is implemented as planned, negotiations on the details of the second phase will begin on the 16th day of the first phase. At this time the remaining prisoners alive will be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent end to the war.
The third and final phase will include the return of the remaining bodies of the dead hostages and the start of the reconstruction of Gaza, under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar and the UN.