Israel’s security cabinet voted to approve the ceasefire and hostage deal between the Jewish state and Hamas on Friday. The deal is still awaiting a vote in the full cabinet in order to be approved.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, both of whom have voiced their reservations about the deal’s potential risks to Israel’s security, voted no. Ben-Gvir threatened to quit the government if the deal was approved.
Netanyahu’s Likud Party responded by stating that “Anyone who dissolves the right-wing government will be remembered as an eternal disgrace.”
In the deal’s first phase, about 33 hostages will be exchanged for 1,000 Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons. The Israel Defense Forces will also withdraw from parts of the Gaza Strip. The fate of the 65 hostages who remain in Gaza is set to be discussed in the later stages of…
