As Netanyahu insists that he will invade Rafah at any cost, opposition leaders in Israel have threatened ending his career if he doesn’t make peace with Hamas to bring hostages back.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now in a state of confusing dilemma over whether to fulfill his promise and invade Rafah or to hold back and make peace with Hamas to bring back hostages to Israel.
What makes things more complicated for him is that part of the Israeli political establishment, i.e. the opposition leaders in Tel Aviv, are demanding Netanyahu to make an immediate peace agreement with Hamas and end the hostage crisis.
At the same time, however, ministers inside his government, including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, are putting immense pressure on him to not accept peace proposals and invade Rafah as they believe the city is where most Hamas fighters and leaders are currently taking shelter.
Gantz and Lipid lashed out at Netanyahu!
Threatening Netanyahu’s government it he doesn’t make peace with Hamas, war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said this Monday that government “will not have the right to continue to exist” if it blocks a proposed prisoner swap deal with Hamas. “Entering Rafah is important in the long struggle against Hamas. The return of our abductees, abandoned by the 7.10 government, is urgent and of far greater importance,” he said on X.
Gantz, who joined Netanyahu’s emergency government following 7 October 2023, also asserted that “if a responsible outline is reached for the return of the abductees with the backing of the entire security system, which does not involve the end of the war, and the ministers who led the government on 7.10 prevent it – the government will not have the right to continue to exist and lead the campaign,” he continued.
Likewise, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid rebuked Netanyahu this Sunday and said that he does not want to conclude a prisoner swap deal and return Israeli prisoners of war held in Gaza “because he fears the disintegration of his ruling coalition.”
Speaking to Israel’s Channel 12, Lapid also stressed that it is impossible for Israeli society to recover without the return of the prisoners, adding that if he were prime minister, he would have refused to launch a military aggression against Rafah in exchange for the prisoners’ return, noting that an exchange deal could have been concluded in December. “Every day we wait for more prisoners to die one after another,” he said, adding that “this government is doing nothing but causing damage to Israel’s image in the world.”
Netanyahu’s ministers demand invading Rafah!
At the same time e as Gantz and Lipid urged Netanyahu to make peace with Hamas, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened this Monday to undermine Netanyahu’s coalition government if he accepts an Egyptian proposal for a Gaza ceasefire. While far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened on Saturday to withdraw from Netanyahu’s government “if Rafah is not invaded.”
But invading Rafah can make things worse as Hamas still has 133 Israeli hostages and they may be held captive in Rafah. Hamas has said that over 70 prisoners of war have already been killed in Gaza as a result of Israel’s bombing campaign on the Strip.
The dilemma for Netanyahu has now reached its peak on whether he should listen to his ministers and invade Rafah, or he’d better take a different approach by concluding a peace agreement with Hamas and hopefully bring Israeli hostages back. Which decision can serve Israel better and help the hostages and which one will end Netanyahu’s ear as prime minister? Time will tell.
