The emerging hostage deal is a “national security catastrophe,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a statement on Monday morning.
“We will not be part of a surrender deal that will include the release of arch-terrorists, stopping the war, and dissolve its achievements that were bought with much blood, and the abandonment of many hostages,” Smotrich said.
“Now is the time to continue at full strength, conquer and clean the entire Strip, finally take from Hamas the control of the humanitarian aid, and open the gates of hell on Gaza, until the complete surrender of Hamas and the return of all of the hostages,” Smotrich concluded.
Soon after the statement, Smotrich attended a meeting in the Knesset Finance Committee on the 2025 budget. Committee chairman MK Moshe Gafni began the meeting by giving the floor to family members of hostages.
Hostage family reactions
Ofir Angrest, brother of Matan, a soldier who is being held hostage in Gaza, criticized Smotrich in the Knesset Finance Committee, arguing that Smotrich was “sacrificing” his brother.
Dolev Yehud, father of Arbel Yehud, who is also being held captive in Gaza, requested a moment of silence, in which he held up a sign that said “free my daughter”.
In a different occurrence in the Knesset Constitution Committee, Likud MK Eliyahu Revivo shouted at Yehuda Cohen, father of hostage Nimrod Cohen, that “if you continue with your foul words, you are sending your son for many more years to the Hamas dungeons.” Revivo’s comments came after Cohen accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of war crimes, and accused the Religious Zionist Party of “fascism” and of “dealing only with death.”
Religious Zionist Party chairman MK Ohad Tal wrote in English on X, “The Religious Zionist Party will not support a bad deal that leaves many of the hostages in Gaza, and that releases terrorists with blood on their hands. Israel must continue its military pressure and unleash hell on Gaza until Hamas is defeated and all of the hostages are returned.”
Another member of the Religious Zionist Party, National Missions Minister Orit Struk, announced later on Monday that she would join a march in the evening at the entrance to Jerusalem against the deal.
Religious Zionist Party MKs voted to fully support Smotrich's position at a faction meeting after the comments.