Itamar Ben-Gvir at an Otzma Yehudit faction press conference on Thursday.Credit: Sraya Diamant

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, has announced he and his party will resign from the Knesset if the cease-fire and hostage release deal is approved.

“If the war against Hamas resumes with full force toward achieving its decisive goals and objectives that remain unmet, we will return to the government,” Ben-Gvir added.

Ben-Gvir called the cease-fire deal “reckless.” “It includes the release of hundreds of murderous terrorists, the return of thousands of terrorists to the northern Gaza Strip, a withdrawal from the Philadelphia axis and a cessation of fighting,” he said, adding that the deal will not see the release of all of the hostages.

The minister said the way to freeing the hostages was to stop the entry of humanitarian aid and fuel into Gaza and to cut access to electricity and water.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, third to the left, at an Otzma Yehudit faction press conference on Thursday,Credit: Sraya Diamant

“When you see the jubilation of Hamas supporter Ayman Odeh, the dancing in Gaza, the celebrations in villages in Judea and Samaria – you understand which side surrendered in the deal,” Ben-Gvir said.

In response, MK Ayman Odeh said in a post on X: “It will be difficult to share the opposition benches with a terrorist, but for the sake of a deal and a ceasefire, we are also willing to swallow frogs.”

The Likud party said that anyone who “dismantles a right-wing government will be remembered for the worse, forever.”

The existing deal would allow Israel to “return to fighting under American guarantees, receive the weapons and combat means it needs, maximize the number of living hostages to be released, maintain full control over the Philadelphi Corridor and the security buffer surrounding the entire Gaza Strip, and achieve dramatic security gains that will ensure Israel’s security for generations,” the Likud statement continued.

Earlier on Thursday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party said it would support the first stage of the cease-fire deal and the release of hostages, on the condition that the IDF eventually return to fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Ben-Gvir has previously called on Smotrich to join him in informing Netanyahu that if the prime minister signs a cease-fire deal, they would both quit the coalition. “Over the past year, through our political power, we have succeeded in preventing that deal from going through, time after time,” Ben-Gvir acknowledged.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said following Ben-Gvir’s announcement that Netanyahu “will get every safety net you need to make the hostage deal,” urging him not to be afraid or intimidated.

On Wednesday during a public speaking engagement, the minister said he takes pride in having prevented previous deals, though added that he is “praying to see the hostages come home healthy, praying to continue the war until total victory.”

Ben-Gvir first claimed responsibility for the delays caused by Israel in the deal negotiations by using his party’s political power on an X post earlier on Tuesday, a claim that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently denied, instead placing the blame on Hamas.

In the video on X, he said that “Otzma Yehudit’s power to stop the deal isn’t enough with the current composition of the government,” and therefore he called on Smotrich to join him.

Michael Hauser Tov