PM Benjamin Netanyahu (l) speaks with Itamar Ben Gvir at a vote in the Knesset, Dec. 28, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
After murder of 6 Israeli captives, senior Israeli minister pledges to block ceasefire negotiations with Hamas and end transfer of fuel and electricity to Gaza.
By World Israel News Staff
A senior Israeli government minister declared Wednesday that he is actively working to undermine ceasefire talks with Hamas, after six Israeli captives were murdered by Hamas terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) announced via X/Twitter Wednesday morning that he is attempting to torpedo negotiations, brokered by the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt, with Hamas for a ceasefire and partial return of captives and the remains of captives held in Gaza.
“I am working to stop the negotiations with Hamas,” Ben-Gvir wrote.
“A state which has had six of its citizens [taken] hostage and murdered in cold blood must not conduct negotiations with the murderers.”
The minister added he would continue to lobby the government to end energy transfers to the Gaza Strip and to increase military pressure on Hamas, warning that a softening of Israel’s position could lead to increased terror activity in Judea and Samaria.
“Instead it must halt the negotiations, stop transferring fuel and electricity, and crush them until they are completely defeated. Continuing the negotiations only serves to encourage them to carry out more and more terror [attacks] in Judea and Samaria.”
The tweet was accompanied by an image, bearing the Otzma Yehudit party logo, warning that “The negotiations will blow up in our face.”
Sources close to Ben-Gvir told Israel National News that the minister’s position mirrored that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in the early days of the war.
“What we need to do is what Netanyahu and even Gallant said at the beginning of the war: Don’t transfer humanitarian aid. No electricity. No fuel. Massive military pressure to bring Hamas to its knees. That is also the only way to bring the hostages back.”
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