Netanyahu’s Likud Party Says Ceasefire Deal Allows a ‘Return to Fighting Under American Guarantee’

The statement was issued in response to Ben Gvir threatening to quit the government if the deal is signed

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party said in a statement on Thursday that the Gaza ceasefire deal will allow “Israel to return to fighting under American guarantee.”

The statement was a response to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power party, who has threatened to quit the coalition government if the ceasefire deal is approved.

The three-phase ceasefire deal does not commit Israel to a permanent truce, and the statement from Likud signals the US has assured Israel it could resume its genocidal war after the first phase, which involves a 42-day ceasefire and initial hostage exchange.

According to Israeli sources speaking to Ynet, Netanyahu has reached an understanding with the incoming Trump administration that he could restart military operations if he deems Hamas is violating the deal.

The Likud statement also signaled that Israel got some kind of guarantee about getting additional military aid from the US for agreeing to the ceasefire deal.

The statement said the deal allows Israel to “receive the weapons and means of warfare it needs, maximize the number of live hostages released, maintain full control of the Philadelphi Corridor and the security buffer that surrounds the entire Gaza Strip, and achieve dramatic security achievements that will ensure Israel’s security for generations.”

According to Israel Hayom, the US and Israel have reached an understanding that the deal includes “the unfreezing of previously delayed US military aid, with IDF and Defense Ministry officials now cleared to submit comprehensive rearmament requests for both immediate and long-term needs.”

In response to the Likud statement, Ben Gvir’s Jewish Power said it still opposed the deal. “This deal is a violation of all of the prime minister’s public commitments to his partners and the Israeli public. It includes stopping the war, leaving the Philadelphia Corridor, abandoning the Netzarim Corridor, returning the terrorists to the northern Gaza Strip without inspection, and releasing hundreds of murderers with Jewish blood on their hands,” the party said.

If the Jewish Power party quits the coalition, the Netanyahu government would still have 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, meaning it would still have a majority. But Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has also threatened that his Religious Zionism party could quit, which would bring the government under 60 seats, a scenario that could lead to elections, although the opposition has said it would bail Netanyahu out if he agrees to the ceasefire deal.

Smotrich said that his party would quit unless it got a guarantee that the genocidal war would resume after the first phase of the deal, and he called for military operations to be intensified and humanitarian aid to be further cut.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.