JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Two far-right Israeli ministers publicly opposed a Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas on Sunday in another sign of widening cracks in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.
Hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and two other ministers from his nationalist-religious party resigned from Netanyahu’s cabinet over the deal, their party said on Sunday.
The Otzma Yehudit party is no longer part of the ruling coalition but has said it will not try to bring down Netanyahu’s government.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stopped short of resigning but said that if Israel agreed to a full end to the war before achieving its aims in Gaza – which include the complete destruction of Hamas – he and his party, Religious Zionism, would also leave the coalition.
Smotrich added that he had received a commitment that Israel would not agree to ending the war before “achieving all of its goals”.
“There is no other way, in order to achieve the goals of the war in full: the destruction of Hamas and the return of all our hostages,” he said on his Facebook page.
Under the multi-phase ceasefire deal, 33 Israeli hostages held in Gaza will first be released before negotiations begin to agree the release of the remaining 65 and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Some of the families believe the second stage will not be implemented and that their own relatives risk being abandoned. They have staged a series of protests against the current deal.
Israel is also due to release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees as part of the ceasefire deal.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Gareth Jones)
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