Smotrich ‘assured’ Israel would continue war and take control of Gaza

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister, has said that he was given assurances that the war on Gaza would continue and Israel would launch a “gradual takeover of the entire Gaza Strip”.

In a statement on Saturday, Smotrich criticised the ceasefire deal which was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet on Friday.

He said that Netanyahu had “decided to give the green light to a bad, catastrophic deal.”

Smotrich and his far-right Religious Zionism party voted against the ceasefire deal, but remained in the government after Netanyahu reportedly agreed to a number of their demands.

The far-right minister said that while his party could not prevent the deal, they were able “to ensure” through the cabinet and “other ways”, that the war would not end without achieving Israel’s full goals, foremost of which is “the complete destruction of Hamas in Gaza”.

He said that his faction had demanded and “received a commitment” that the method of war would be completely changed.

That included, said Smotrich, “through a gradual takeover of the entire Gaza Strip, the lifting of the restrictions imposed on us by the [US President Joe] Biden administration, and full control of the Strip, so that humanitarian aid will not reach Hamas as it has been until now.”

Smotrich’s comments appear to starkly contradict the agreement struck between Israel and Hamas, which Middle East Eye published earlier this week. 

The agreement specified that the first phase will involve the exchange of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners, the return of internally displaced Palestinian civilians to their homes in northern Gaza, and the transfer of wounded Palestinian combatants and civilians to Egypt via the Rafah crossing. 

It will also involve a retreat of Israeli forces to a 700-metre perimeter along the boundary between Israel and Gaza. 

A second phase, in which all Israeli captives will be released in return for a total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, is still to be discussed. 

That would be followed by a third phase, also yet to be discussed, in which both sides would return the bodies of slain captives and prisoners, and an announcement would be made on a three to five-year reconstruction plan overseen by international actors. 

‘We will erase their smiles’

Smotrich said that Gaza was currently “ruined and disintegrated, uninhabitable” an that it would “remain that way”. 

He added: “Don’t be impressed by the forced joy of our enemy. This is an animalistic society that sanctifies death. Very soon, we will erase their smile again and replace it with cries of grief and the wails of those who were left with nothing.”

Netanyahu said in a video address on Saturday that Israel would continue its war on Gaza in “new, forceful ways” if the second stage of the ceasefire agreement proved to be “futile”.

“President [Donald] Trump and President Biden have given full backing to Israel’s right to return to combat if Israel concludes that negotiations on Phase B are futile.”

He said that Israel would not rest until “all of its war goals are completed”, including the return of all Israeli captives held in Gaza. 

Far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party announced that its lawmakers would submit letters of resignation from the government on Sunday in protest against the deal. 

The Palestinian health ministry said that Israeli forces had killed at least 23 Palestinians in Gaza over the past day, ahead of the beginning of the ceasefire on Sunday. 

That brings the total death toll in Gaza from Israel’s war to 46,899 since October 2023. Most of those killed are women and children.