Israel’s Tikva Forum on Monday denounced the shift to Phase 2 of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza before the disarmament of Hamas and the return of all hostage remains.
“Any progress in Gaza while Hamas has not been demilitarized and Rani Gvili is not home is a return to the cruel [security] conception that led to the Simchat Torah massacre” on Oct. 7, 2023, the forum stated.
Gvili, a 24-year-old Israel Police Special Patrol Unit (Yasam) volunteer, died fighting Hamas terrorists at Kibbutz Alumim on Oct. 7. His body was taken to Gaza by the terror group, and is the last being held there.
The forum’s statement came just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to reopen the Rafah Crossing with Egypt, allowing the U.S.-backed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza to enter and kickstart reconstruction efforts after two years of war.
The reopening of the Rafah Crossing is part of Phase 2 of Washington’s 20-point peace plan, the start of which was announced on Jan. 14 by Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration’s Mideast special envoy.
According to the Tikva Forum, reconstruction is “inherently dangerous,” and the Jewish state “must oppose any party that seeks to rebuild Gaza and its Arabs, who declare their intention to carry out a next massacre.”
The statement emphasized that Jerusalem’s focus should be on restoring Israel’s security and supporting the wounded, bereaved families and residents of communities on its southern and northern borders.
“We must act to destroy Hamas and the threat from this border,” it said.
The Tikva Forum represents families opposed to concessions they say could endanger Israelis or encourage Hamas to take more hostages in the future. The group initially supported the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal, saying it envisioned Hamas’s defeat and eliminating its threat.
Yisrael Beiteinu Party head Avigdor Liberman, a former defense minister, told JNS on Monday that he was opposed to moving to Phase 2 “before the return of Israel’s hero, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, and before Hamas is completely disarmed.
“Anything else is surrender to terror and a return to the dangerous [security] conception of before October 7,” Liberman told JNS.
