Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday expressed strong opposition to a hostage and ceasefire deal with Hamas amid reports negotiations are making progress and said it was time for Israel to “occupy and cleanse” the entire Gaza Strip.
“The emerging deal is a catastrophe for the national security of the State of Israel. We will not be part of a surrender deal that would include releasing terrorist hostages, stopping the war and dissolving its achievements that were bought with much blood, and abandoning many hostages,” Smotrich wrote on X.
“This is the time to continue with all our might, to occupy and cleanse the entire Strip, to finally take control of humanitarian aid from Hamas, and to open the gates of hell on Gaza until Hamas surrenders completely and all the hostages are returned,” he added.
Later in the day, family members of hostages in Gaza entered a meeting of Israel’s finance committee that was attended by Smotrich to confront him over his tweet. “These kidnapped people can be returned,” Ofir Angrest, whose brother was taken hostage by Hamas, told Smotrich, according to Haaretz.
“The conditions are ripe, it’s time for a deal, the prime minister said it. How can you, the finance minister, oppose the return of all these abductees?” Angrest added.
The Haaretz report said that Smotrich expressed opposition to the deal after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared the details of the potential agreement. Netanyahu had summoned Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to brief them on the potential deal over concerns they might quit the government if an agreement is reached.
Smotrich and Ben Gvir, who are both West Bank settlers, have repeatedly threatened to quit the government if a ceasefire deal is reached, but sources told Haaretz they might not do so now since the incoming Trump administration is expected to be open to the idea of advancing Israeli annexation in the West Bank.
