Israel’s Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, announced on Thursday that his party will leave the coalition government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he does not commit to resume the war in Gaza “immediately after” the end of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement announced this Wednesday.
“The faction supports the demands of the party’s chairman, Minister Bezalel Smotrich, to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to guarantee Israel’s return to war to destroy Hamas (…) immediately after the conclusion of the first phase of the agreement, as a condition for the party to remain in the governing coalition,” the far-right party Religious Zionism said today in a statement.
According to the draft agreement to which Efe had access and details provided by Israeli officers, in the first phase of the 42-day agreement, Hamas will gradually release, and in exchange for more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners, 33 hostages (alive and dead) giving priority to women still captives – also the military ones -, people over 50 years of age, those under nineteen and the sick.
It is the second phase that must initiate “a sustainable calm” in the Strip and the total abandonment of Israeli troops from the Palestinian enclave as a requirement for Hamas to release the rest of the civilians and the male military so that finally, in a third phase, it exchanges the lifeless bodies of hostages already dead.
This morning, Netanyahu’s Office accused Hamas of not wanting to comply with what was already agreed on May 27, in the draft announced then by US President Joe Biden, and of wanting to exchange “mass murderers” for hostages, despite an explicit clause that vetoes it.
Hamas, for its part, assured that it is “committed to the ceasefire agreement, announced by the mediators” and that it is Israel that is trying to “create tension at a critical moment,” in addition to asking the US government to force it to comply with the agreement.
An Israeli official confirmed today to EFE that the negotiating delegation, headed by the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, is still in Doha finalizing the details of the ceasefire agreement, announced yesterday by Qatar and which should come into force this Sunday.
The Office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas on Thursday of creating a “last-minute crisis” after allegedly trying to modify details of the draft ceasefire in Gaza announced yesterday by Qatar, and assured that the Israeli government will not approve its implementation until the disagreements are clarified.
“Hamas violates parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last-minute concessions,” the Israeli president’s office denounced today. “The cabinet will not meet until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all the elements of the agreement.”
In a statement in response, Hamas said that “it is committed to the ceasefire agreement, announced by the mediators.” For his part, Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, told EFE that he did not know what Netanyahu’s words about new demands meant.
One of the spokesmen of the Islamist organization, Sami Abu Zuhri, blamed Israel on Thursday for seeking to “create tension at a critical moment” and demanded that the US administration force compliance with the agreement.
The Directorate of Kidnapped, Repatriate and Disappeared of the Netanyahu Office informed the families of the kidnapped early of the setback in the negotiations.
The Government meeting, which was scheduled for this Thursday at 11:00 am (9:00 GMT), is thus postponed indefinitely until the discrepancies are resolved, but Israeli local media say that it could be held this afternoon.
In addition to all this, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that his party would leave the coalition government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he does not commit to resuming the war in Gaza “immediately after” the end of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
This morning, Netanyahu’s Office reported, in a first statement, that the prime minister had spoken by phone with the Doha mediators, who informed him that Hamas was trying to move away from what was already agreed on May 27, by wanting to choose who will be the prisoners released in an exchange for hostages.
“Among other things, contrary to an explicit clause that grants Israel the right to veto the release of mass murderers who are symbols of terrorism, Hamas wants to dictate the identity of those terrorists,” the text denounces, in what it describes as “blackmail attempts.”
However, Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, told EFE that he did not know what Netanyahu’s words about new demands referred to.
According to the public broadcaster Kan, the sudden delay of the government vote could in turn be due to “the ongoing deliberations” of the Religious Zionism party, chaired by the Minister of Finance and far-right settler Bezalel Smotrich, on whether or not to leave the Executive once the ceasefire is approved.
Both Smotrich and the also settler and Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, oppose what they consider a “surrender” agreement before Hamas, which would also prevent their longings for Jewish settlers to reoccupy the post-war Palestinian enclave.
But even if this happened, Netanyahu would have the majority support to give the green light to the ceasefire, which would come into force this Sunday after more than 15 months of massacres and about 47,000 Gazans dead.
According to leaks, in a first phase Hamas will gradually release, and in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, 33 hostages (alive and dead) giving priority to women still captive – including soldiers -, people over 50 years old, children under nineteen and the sick.
The Arab League, made up of 22 states, also demanded to prioritize the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza as soon as the agreement between Israel and Hamas enters into force, and that the war be “completely ended”.
On the other hand, the United States, Qatar and Egypt, the mediators and guarantors of the truce agreement in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, confirmed in a joint statement that they will ensure the implementation of the pact by both parties “in all its phases.”
“Egypt, the State of Qatar and the United States of America affirm that their policy as guarantors of the agreement is to ensure that both parties fully implement their three phases,” underlined a joint statement made public in the last few hours by the Egyptian Presidency.
In addition, after the agreement, the Israeli Army killed at least 71 Gazati between the night and early hours of Thursday, according to local sources in the Gaza Strip.
The Australian Police have filed charges against a 34-year-old woman for allegedly poisoning her one-year-old baby to gain followers and raise money from donations, according to a statement released this Thursday by the Australian authorities.
The Child Protection and Investigation Unit has accused the woman of torture, claiming that she “filmed and published videos of the girl while she was suffering anguish and immense pain,” a content that exploited the child “and was used to attract monetary donations and online followers,” says the Queensland state department, northeast of the country.
In the statement, the Police explain that, between August 6 and October 15, 2024, the woman administered several prescription and unauthorized medications to the baby and tried to hide this behavior.
However, the medical staff of a hospital in southern Brisbane, capital of Queensland, detected what happened and informed the police while the girl was admitted last October, when they did some tests with which they detected unauthorized medications in the blood.
The woman was arrested this Thursday and is accused of crimes such as poisoning and premeditation of the facts, including torture, manufacture of child exploitation material and fraud.
An explosion shook the center of Kiev this Thursday around noon when the city’s air defenses were activated to repel a Russian attack in the middle of a visit to the Ukrainian capital of the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, who arrived hours before this bombing.
“Air defense forces operate in the center of the capital. Go to the shelters!”, the city’s mayor, Vitali Klichkó, wrote on his Telegram account, just after the rumble of the explosion was heard.
The Ukrainian Air Force had previously warned that attack drones launched by Russia were heading towards the Kiev region and towards the capital itself.
Russia usually carries out its suicide drone attacks at night or in the early hours of the morning, although it has also launched numerous missile and drone bombings against Kiev and other cities in Ukraine in broad daylight.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview published in the Polish press that “Europe, without the Ukrainian army, will not be able to face the Russian army, because it is more numerous” and also “Russia has more weapons, more people and is more cruel than the Europeans.”
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