Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Sunday night called for the remaining hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza to be freed via military pressure.
Responding to the return to Israel on Sunday evening of Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari from Hamas captivity, Ben-Gvir tweeted, “We are happy and excited about your return and await the return of the remaining hostages—through the use of [military] force, cutting off fuel [to Gaza] and stopping the flow of humanitarian aid [to Hamas]—not through surrender.”
Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit Party formally resigned from the government on Sunday morning, a day after Jerusalem approved the ceasefire deal with the Hamas terrorist group.
Flanked by members of his party, Ben-Gvir said on Thursday that the deal means “the end of the war before Hamas is beaten,” adding that he had pleaded with the prime minister in a private meeting to jettison the deal, which he said gives a “prize to terror.”
Calling it a “reckless deal,” the Otzma Yehudit leader said the agreement will set free hundreds of murderous terrorists, pull the Israel Defense Forces from the Egypt-Gaza border and return thousands of terrorists to the northern Gaza Strip.
“The deal will, in fact, erase the achievements of the war,” he said.
Otzma Yehudit controls six seats in the Knesset.