'The ceasefire agreement must proceed until the war is completely over,' families say in news conference in Tel Aviv
The families of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip said on Saturday that they would not let far-right elements in Benjamin Netanyahu's government sabotage the full implementation of a hostage-prisoner swap agreement with Palestinian factions.
In a news conference in Tel Aviv, broadcast by Israeli Army Radio, the families said far-right ministers in the government "are trying to undermine the full implementation of the deal and return to war after its first phase, condemning the prisoners who will remain behind to death."
They continued: "The ceasefire agreement must proceed until the war is completely over."
Several far-right ministers, notably National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have attempted to obstruct the completion of the deal.
However, both the government and the Security Cabinet approved it with a majority of their members voting in favor.
Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party announced earlier on Saturday that it would withdraw from the government on Sunday in protest of the deal's approval.
Qatar announced a three-phase ceasefire agreement late Wednesday evening to end more than 15 months of deadly Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, with the ceasefire set to take effect at 8:30 a.m. local time (0630GMT) on Sunday.
Nearly 47,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed and more than 110,700 injured in Israel's genocidal war on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, according to local health authorities.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
