Hardline Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned on Sunday that he would topple the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahuif a planned military ground attack on Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip is called off.
Smotrich’s warning came amid efforts in Egypt to broker a new ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages held by the militant Palestinian organization Hamas.
“Agreement to the Egyptian deal is a humiliating capitulation and grants the Nazis a victory at the backs of hundreds of heroic soldiers who died in battle,” Smotrich said in a video post on social media. The Minister of Finance regularly calls Hamas ‘Nazis’.
An agreement on the deal would mean a “death penalty for the hostages and an immediate existential danger to the State of Israel,” he said.
Should Netanyahu surrender and revoke the order to invade Rafah, a government led by him “would no longer have the right to exist,” Smotrich said. The capture of Rafah was essential for the destruction of Hamas, the restoration of security along the Israel-Gaza border and the return of the hostages, he added.
He called this time a “fateful moment for the Israeli people” and called on Netanyahu to show courage.
Netanyahu’s government is making a last-minute attempt to broker a ceasefire with Hamas, along with the release of hostages, before deploying troops to Rafah. A Hamas delegation is expected in Cairo on Monday to discuss the details.
A senior Hamas official said in a post on Telegram on Saturday that he would investigate the latest Israeli proposal.
Israel expects a response on Monday, according to a report on Israeli television, which added that Foreign Minister Israel Katz had said Israel was willing to postpone the military attack on Rafah if a hostage deal was agreed.
The deal would be limited to women, the elderly and the sick among the hostages.
