Israeli media quoted the Minister of National Security in the occupation government, Itamar Ben Gvir, as telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “if the fighting is stopped, this will mean the dissolution of the right-wing government.”

This statement comes as part of several threats that Netanyahu received from the right-wing parties in his government, to discourage him from proceeding with the deal that the Western and Israeli media talked about behind the scenes.

The Likud ministers themselves registered loud objections, as the Minister of Education, Yoav Kisch, considered accepting the deal “a surrender to the Hamas movement.”

For his part, Finance Minister and head of the Religious Zionism Party, Bezalel Smotrich, said on Monday that his party “will not agree” to stop fighting in Gaza for two months, calling for the establishment of Israeli military rule in the Strip.

This came during a meeting of the “Religious Zionism” party in the Israeli Knesset (Parliament), according to what the Israeli Channel 12 reported.

At the meeting, Smotrich said that stopping the fighting in Gaza for two months “means losing all the achievements we achieved with the blood of our fighters, and will allow Hamas to regain control of the region.”

He added: "The release of a large number of saboteurs will make all the Jews of the country and the world a target for kidnappings, so we will never agree to such a bad deal."

Smotrich's statements came against the backdrop of reports in the Hebrew media about the imminent reaching of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which includes a two-month ceasefire and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

During his party meeting, Smotrich called for the formation of a military rule in the Gaza Strip, and said: “We have already seen during the terrible folly of the expulsion and disengagement (Israel’s withdrawal from the Gush Katif settlements in 2005) from the Gaza Strip that as soon as we leave and the Israeli army forces leave, terrorism enters.” As he says.

He continued: "The only way to ensure our control over the region in the long term is through the formation of a military government that will govern Gaza, supervise the distribution of humanitarian aid, and not allow civilian elements affiliated with Hamas to return to power there, until a local leadership is formed that rejects terrorism and is able to deal with... Civil issues for the residents of Gaza.

Smotrich added that the Israeli military government in the Gaza Strip "will have to expel UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees) employees."

He went on to say: “Everyone knows that their employees were part of the October 7 attack,” he claimed.

The Israeli minister also called for the expulsion of UNRWA from the West Bank, including Jerusalem, adding: “I intend to raise this matter for discussion at the next meeting of the mini-political and security ministerial council (cabinet).”

On Monday, the number of countries that “temporarily” suspended their funding to the UN agency rose to 12, following Israeli allegations of the participation of 12 UNRWA employees in the October 7, 2023 attack on the settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip.

The countries that suspended their funding to the agency are the United States, Canada, Australia, Italy, Britain, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Japan, and Austria.

On Friday, UNRWA said that it had opened an investigation into allegations of the involvement of a number of its employees (without specifying) in the October 7 attacks.

Smotrich said: “This is in addition to a systematic solution for the future of the Gaza Strip by enabling the migration of hundreds of thousands of Arab (Palestinian) refugees who are begging to leave Gaza to other places in the world where they can live safely,” as he put it.

Smotrich continued: “In addition to imposing security control, Israel must also resume settlement in the Gaza Strip, because there is no security without settlement, and it is not possible to create a military presence in the region without civilian life.”

Ministers from parties in the government coalition participated, on Sunday evening, in a conference in West Jerusalem initiated by the extreme right-wing “Jewish Power” party, which promoted the restoration of control over the Gaza Strip, settlement there, and encouraging its residents to immigrate.

The American network "NBC News" had quoted a source familiar with the ongoing talks in Paris, regarding a prisoner deal between the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian resistance, as saying that negotiators from "Israel", the United States of America, Egypt and Qatar "agreed on a framework for a new deal." .

According to the source, the agreement includes “the release of the remaining American and Israeli prisoners in Gaza,” in stages, starting with women and children, and this will be accompanied by a gradual cessation of fighting and the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip, in addition to the exchange of Palestinian prisoners.

The Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman, also indicated that the current phase of the talks may lead to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza in the future.

He added, "Progress has been made on laying the foundation for moving forward on the issue of prisoners, and the talks are improving compared to previous weeks, but the current escalation in Gaza will not lead to any progress regarding the issue."

For its part, the Hamas movement confirmed, through the media advisor to the head of its political bureau, Taher Al-Nono, that “the ceasefire in Gaza is the basic premise for any subsequent step,” stressing the movement’s firm position on the necessity of “a comprehensive and complete ceasefire, followed by a prisoner exchange and reconstruction.” 

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, which as of Monday left 26,637 killed and 65,387 injured, most of them children and women, according to the Palestinian authorities, and caused “massive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to the United Nations. .