Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Monday reiterated his offer to provide Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition with a safety net in parliament to complete the second and third phases of the ceasefire agreement with the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip.
In an English-language statement from Kibbutz Nir Oz near Gaza ahead of Netanyahu’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, Lapid stressed that “there is no political reason preventing Netanyahu from going to the next phase.”
“Tomorrow, President Trump will meet Prime Minister Netanyahu in Washington,” Lapid’s statement noted. “It’s important to make crystal clear before that meeting: Netanyahu has a political safety net from the opposition for the deal—for every stage.”
The upcoming phases of the deal—which would lead to the release of the remaining 79 hostages, both living and deceased, and a complete end to the war against Hamas—have the “overwhelming support” of both the people of Israel and lawmakers, said Lapid.
“The hostage deal will not bring down Netanyahu’s government. We are all committed to it,” claimed the Yesh Atid Party leader, adding: “I have told the prime minister that in person. I have promised it to the families of the hostages. And I’m saying it again now, here in Nir Oz.”
Lapid praised the U.S. president for his role in achieving the first phase of the agreement.
“Without President Trump and his commitment, it is doubtful we would have seen the return of the hostages in the past two weeks,” he said. “The president promised to ensure the deal continues until the last hostage returns, either to be reunited with their families or brought home for burial. We know we can count on his word.”
Kibbutz Nir Oz was among the hardest hit communities during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of southern Israel. One in four residents was either murdered or taken hostage, including the Bibas family, mother Shiri, husband Yarden and their two children, Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 9 months old.
Yarden was freed on Saturday after 484 days in Hamas captivity. Shiri, Ariel and Kfir are also on the list to be released during the agreement’s first phase. Hamas has previously claimed that Shiri and her children were killed in captivity.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on Lapid’s statement, while Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party has yet to issue a statement in response to the offer of a safety net.
A spokesperson for Lapid told JNS on Monday afternoon that the Yesh Atid Party leader was “not negotiating the safety net through the media.”
As stipulated in the initial Jan. 19 deal, talks on the second phase are set to begin on the 16th day, coinciding with Netanyahu’s visit to the United States.
Among other issues, Israel and Hamas are set to discuss Gaza’s future governance, including the end of the terrorist group’s rule over Gaza.
The talks will take place through shuttle diplomacy led by the Trump administration, moving between the Jewish state and mediators Qatar and Egypt after the conclusion of this week’s discussions in Washington.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose Religious Zionist Party has demanded that Netanyahu commit to resuming the war to dismantle Hamas and secure the release of all hostages following the deal’s first phase, has said that Washington provided Jerusalem with a written guarantee that it can return to fighting if the negotiations collapse.
Trump and former President Joe Biden have provided Netanyahu with a missive confirming that Israel “will be able to return to the war on day 43” if talks fail during the first phase, Smotrich told JNS on Jan. 21.
Commenting on the conditions for the agreement with Hamas to last through the second stage, Smotrich said that “our condition is that there is no Hamas.” If the terrorist organization agrees, “great, we don’t want to fight. But if it doesn’t agree, we can return to the war,” he concluded.