JERUSALEM: Two Isra­eli ministers publicly opposed a Gaza truce deal on Sunday, saying Benja­min Netanyahu’s government had no right to exist if it failed to invade Rafah.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz called for Hamas to be destroyed, as planned by the government when it launched an invasion of Gaza.

“If you decide to raise a white flag and cancel the plan to occupy Rafah aimed at destroying Hamas in order to restore security to Israel, then the government headed by you will have no right to exist,” Smotrich wrote on X, addressing the premier.

“The Egyptian deal is a humiliating surrender… it sentences the hostages to death, and above all, constitutes an immediate existential danger to the state of Israel.” Gantz, a former army chief and defence minister, also pushed for Rafah to be invaded.

“Entering Rafah is important in the long struggle against Hamas,” he said in a statement issued by his party.

“If a responsible outline for the return of hostages backed by the entire defence establishment is achieved, which doesn’t entail ending the war, and the ministers who led the government on October 7 prevent it — the government will not have the right to continue to exist.”

Diplomatic efforts have intensified to reach a truce and prisoner-release deal in Gaza amid growing calls against a ground assault on Rafah.

Netanyahu has vowed to send troops into Rafah, where more than 1.5 million civilians have taken refuge, but is under tremendous international and domestic pressure to strike a deal to free Israeli prisoners.

The Axios news website, citing two Israeli officials, reported that Israel’s latest proposal includes a willingness to discuss the “restoration of sustainable calm” in Gaza after hostages are released.

It is the first time in the nearly seven-month war that Israeli leaders have suggested they are open to discussing an end to the war, Axios said.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2024