Both politicians claimed that the deal would end the war without the completion of Israel’s central war aim of destroying Hamas and vowed to pull their parties out of the coalition if it was accepted.
Their parties won 14 seats when running together in 2022 and are crucial to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing majority.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said they would not accept an agreement that left Hamas still operating in Gaza.
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has strongly criticised the latest hostage release deal (Photo: Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images
Smotrich tweeted that he had spoken with Netanyahu and said he would not be part of the government if it agreed to end the war without destroying Hamas and returning all of the hostages.
“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,” Smotrich wrote.
“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 said the potential deal was a “surrender” to Hamas.
On X/Twitter, the security minister wrote: “This is a reckless deal, which is a victory for terrorism and a security danger to the State of Israel. Agreeing to such a deal is not absolute victory – but absolute defeat. We will not allow the end of the war without the complete elimination of Hamas.”
“Should the prime minister implement this reckless deal under the conditions published today…Otzma Yehudit will dissolve the government,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Yair Lapid reiterated a promise to provide a safety net to Netanyahu and ensure the government would not collapse over the new deal. The leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party said in response to Biden's announcement on Saturday that Israel “must do this deal, now [...] before the hostages die there”.
Netanyahu’s chief foreign policy, Ophir Falk, said of the deal: "There are a lot of details to be worked out and that includes there will not be a permanent ceasefire until all our objectives are met."
He told The Sunday Times that Biden had made "a political speech for whatever reasons".
Falk emphasised that Israel was not rejecting the deal, which he said was “a deal we agreed to – it's not a good deal but we dearly want the hostages released, all of them.”
Falk said Israel’s conditions “have not changed – the release of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas as a genocidal terrorist organisation.”
