The head of the Otzma Yehudit party and Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday to issue a joint threat from their parties to withdraw from the government, in an attempt to prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from agreeing to a deal to stop the war on Gaza and exchange prisoners.

Ben Gvir considered, in a video clip, that "the deal being woven is a surrender deal for Hamas. I call on my colleague, Minister Bezalel Smotrich, to join me, and to cooperate together against a surrender deal for Hamas. Otzma Yehudit alone is not able to prevent the deal, and I suggest that we go together to the prime minister and tell him that if he passes the deal, we will withdraw from the government."

Ben Gvir added, "I stress that even if we are in the opposition, we will not bring down the prime minister, but this cooperation is our only way to prevent the surrender deal, prevent the terrible deal and ensure that the deaths of hundreds of soldiers were not in vain."

Israeli media reported that Ben-Gvir's proposal has trapped Smotrich, because if he refuses to withdraw, Ben-Gvir will be able to claim that he tried to oppose the deal and that Smotrich did not join him in order to prevent it. If Smotrich agrees to the proposal, he will appear to be being dragged along after he refrained yesterday from threatening to withdraw from the government after announcing his opposition to the deal.

Ben Gvir described the deal as "terrible", and said that he knows its details well, and that it includes the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, the return of residents of the northern Gaza Strip, including thousands of militants, and that the deal stipulates the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the "Netzarim" axis, "and restores the threat to the towns of the Gaza envelope, and thus practically erases the achievements of the war so far in the Gaza Strip."

Ben Gvir claimed that "the deal does not lead to the release of all the kidnapped, and decides the fate of the remaining kidnapped who are not included in the deal with death."

“Over the past year, with our political power, we have succeeded in preventing this deal from being implemented, time after time. But since then, other parties have joined the government (Gideon Sa’ar’s party), who now support the deal, and we are no longer the deciding factor. This means that the prime minister’s refusal to sign the deal will only happen if the force opposing it is strong enough to prevent him from doing so,” he continued.

Ben Gvir added, "I call on the Prime Minister to be reasonable, and to take steps that will lead to Hamas's determination and the release of our kidnapped soldiers without abandoning Israel's security, and to completely stop the transfer of humanitarian aid, fuel, electricity and water to Gaza, in addition to continuing the military strikes until its absolute defeat."