Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid renewed his offer on Monday to provide a “safety net” in the Knesset for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pass a Gaza cease-fire and hostage swap deal with Hamas.
“The Israeli government should agree to Netanyahu's proposal, and send a delegation to Cairo today to finalize the details and bring home the men, the young women, the elderly, the soldiers and the female soldiers imprisoned in the tunnels,” Lapid wrote on X.
On Friday, US President Joe Biden said Israel presented a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave.
“I repeat my offer to give Netanyahu a political safety net to carry out the deal,” Lapid said.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened Saturday to dissolve Netanyahu's government if the proposal laid out by Biden is passed.
“Ben Gvir and Smotrich cannot prevent the kidnapped from returning home. They are dying there,” Lapid said.
There was no comment from Netanyahu on Lapid's offer.
But the Israeli premier said early Monday that he is not ready to stop the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.
“I am not ready to stop the war,” the public broadcaster KAN quoted Netanyahu as saying during a secret discussion in the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza following an Oct. 7 Hamas attack despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
More than 36,400 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and over 82,600 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Nearly eight months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
