Member of Smotrich’s party: We’ll stay in coalition if Hamas doesn’t control Gaza or have arms

Religious Zionism MK Moshe Solomon says his party will remain in Israel’s governing coalition as long as the US-brokered ceasefire agreement with Hamas moves to its second stage and Hamas is prevented from rearming or controlling Gaza, amid speculation that the far-right party may bolt the coalition.

“The agreement that we signed has stages,” Solomon tells The Times of Israel. “Stage one is the release of the hostages and the terrorists. Stage two is the complete disarmament of Gaza and of Hamas, so that Hamas does not control the Gaza Strip in any way. And that way we achieve our war aims, we win this difficult war, and destroy Hamas.”

“If the situation is such that Hamas remains armed and in control of Gaza, of course, we cannot stay in this government,” he adds.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet voted Friday for all hostages to be freed in exchange for Palestinian security prisoners, in accord with the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s broader Gaza peace plan, and despite vocal objections from the premier’s far-right coalition partners.

Of the three Religious Zionism cabinet ministers, two voted against the deal — party leader and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock — while Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer voted in favor of it.

All 48 hostages held in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive, are meant to be released tomorrow in exchange for 250 Palestinian security prisoners serving life sentences, plus another 1,700 Gazans imprisoned since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that launched the war. However, it may take longer to return some of the dead hostages.

“We are [experiencing] dissonance between great joy, pain, and fear for the future,” says Solomon.

“I am happy and excited,” he adds. “But alongside this great joy, there is also concern and pain that the price is not simple — to release terrorists with blood on their hands, who we know with certainty will return to committing acts of terror.”

Citing slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught who was freed in the 2011 Gilad Shalit exchange deal, Solomon warns that releasing convicted murderers “opens a wound for families who lost someone dear to them, for whom their small consolation was that at least the murderer was caught and sentenced to life in prison. And now he is being released.”