Ben-Gvir threatens to withdraw from Israel government over potential ceasefire with Hezbollah

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, threatened Thursday to withdraw from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition if he agrees to a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Anadolu Agency reports.

The US, EU, and nine other nations called on Israel and Hezbollah, late Wednesday, to agree to a 21-day ceasefire amid an escalation in their cross-border warfare.

Ben-Gvir told Netanyahu that his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) Party “will not vote with the coalition if the government agrees to a temporary ceasefire with Hezbollah”, Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported.

The extremist Minister also threatened during a party meeting “to leave the government if the ceasefire was permanent.”

“We will not abandon the residents of the north. Every day that this ceasefire is in effect and Israel does not fight in the north – Otzma Yehudit is not committed to the coalition,” Ben-Gvir said.

Israel has pounded Lebanon since Monday morning, killing more than 650 people and injuring over 2,500 others, according to figures released by the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border conflicts since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,500 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by Hamas last 7 October.

The international community has warned against the strikes on Lebanon, as they raise the spectre of spreading the Gaza conflict regionally.

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