Far-Rightist Threatens to Quit Israel Gov’t Over Any ‘Reckless’ Gaza Deal

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A far-right partner in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition threatened on Tuesday to quit the government over any attempt to enter a “reckless” deal with Hamas to retrieve hostages held by the Palestinian militants.

“Reckless deal = dismantling of the government,” Itamar Ben-Gvir of the Jewish Power party posted on X, amid media reports that Israel was considering a long-term halt, brokered by Qatar an Egypt, to its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Jewish Power accounts for six of the 64 seats that Netanyahu’s religious-rightist coalition held in the 120-seat parliament before the Gaza war. After the war erupted, he brought the 12-seat centrist party National Unity into an emergency cabinet.

Ben-Gvir and another ultranationalist coalition partner, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionism party, have chafed at their exclusion from Netanyahu’s small, decision-making war counsel.

They have called for no let-up in the offensive and for Israel to resettle Gaza, from which it withdrew in 2005. Netanyahu has ruled out rebuilding of Jewish settlements there but says post-war Gaza will be under Israeli security control.

(Writing by Dan Williams, Editing by Ari Rabinovitch and Ros Russell)

Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.