Israel’s Ben-Gvir: Truce deal in Gaza a ‘dangerous precedent’

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, today slammed the terms of the Gaza Strip truce agreement reached with the Israeli occupation authorities as a “dangerous precedent” that repeats past mistakes.

He stressed the importance of maintaining military pressure on Hamas at this time to achieve Israel’s “comprehensive hostage deal.”

He claimed that while the negotiations on the truce had consisted of certain positive aspects, “we have a moral duty to bring everyone back, and we have no right or permission to agree to the idea of separating them and only bringing some back.”

Ben-Gvir further criticised the negotiations on the truce for its failure to ensure the release of all women and children held in Gaza, deeming it “immoral, illogical and very far from enough” and claiming it “could and should have been different.”

“Hamas wanted this truce more than anything,” he wrote on X. “It also wanted to ‘get rid’ of the women and children in the first stage, because they caused international pressure on it. It wanted to get, in exchange, fuel, the release of terrorists, halting IDF actions and even a [reconnaissance] flight ban. It got all of those.”

According to the Times of Israel, he called for an escalation of IDF military actions against Hamas to exert pressure on the group to agree to a comprehensive hostage deal. He explained that his party’s ministers voted against the deal emphasising that, at present, all available options are “bad”.

תפקידה של הנהגה הוא להביט לאזרחים בעיניים ולספר להם את האמת!

האירוע שלפנינו איננו אירוע פשוט. הלב של כולנו מונח שותת דם על השולחן. חיי יקירנו תלויים מנגד. ההכרעות קשות כולן, ולא משנה איזו החלטה התקבלה.

יש יתרון במתווה שאושר אמש ולפיו נראה חלק מהילדים והנשים שנחטפו חוזרים…

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) November 22, 2023

The occupation government, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, announced a few hours ago the approval of the truce agreement that includes a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, after two meetings with the war council and the expanded government. All government ministers supported the deal, except for three far-right extremists belonging to the Religious Zionist Party.

A four-day ceasefire is expected to begin tomorrow, with further pauses and prisoner swaps expected in the coming days.

READ: Netanyahu: Prisoner exchange is a difficult decision but the right one