JERUSALEM: Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned on Monday that he would not support a deal in Gaza that halts the war, insisting that Israel should "open the gates of hell" on the Palestinian territory.
"The proposed agreement is a catastrophe for Israel's national security," Smotrich said on X. "We will not be part of a surrender deal that involves releasing dangerous terrorists, halting the war, squandering the hard-won achievements paid for in blood, and abandoning many hostages still in captivity.
"Now is the time to intensify our efforts, using all available force to fully secure and cleanse the Gaza Strip," he continued.
"We must take decisive control of humanitarian aid to prevent its exploitation by Hamas, and open the gates of hell on Gaza until Hamas surrenders unconditionally and all hostages are safely returned."
Smotrich, a key member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition, has repeatedly opposed halting the war in Gaza.
His latest comments come as indirect negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have resumed for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.
On Sunday, Netanyahu briefed outgoing US President Joe Biden on the ongoing negotiations in Doha.
"The prime minister discussed with the American president the progress in the negotiations for the release of our hostages and updated him on the mandate he has given to the negotiating team in Doha, aimed at advancing the release of the hostages," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
Several previous rounds of negotiations held last year have failed to produce a deal.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
On that day militants also took 251 people hostage, 94 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed 46,584 people, a majority of them civilians, according to Hamas-run territory's health ministry figures that the United Nations says are reliable.
Israel far-right finance minister warns won't back Gaza deal that halts war
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Israel far-right finance minister warns won't back Gaza deal that halts war
Video shows armed men beating a Palestinian in West Bank
- The previous incident was in September and cost the business more than $600,000 as offices and facilities were damaged, he said
TEL AVIV: Dozens of masked men armed with sticks beat and injured a Palestinian in the Israeli-occupied West Bank when they attacked a plant nursery, according to people who saw the attack and video footage obtained by The Associated Press.
Video filmed by security cameras shows men dressed mostly in black, faces covered, with several hitting and kicking a man on the ground.
Two witnesses who are members of the family that owns the facility said Israeli settlers beat 67-year-old Basim Saleh Yassin as he was trying to flee the German-Palestinian-run nursery in the northern West Bank village of Deir Sharaf. Both spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
BACKGROUND
The attack is the latest in rising Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, where assaults increased during the Palestinian olive harvest in October and have continued.
Workers fled when they saw the settlers coming on Thursday but Yassin is deaf and couldn’t hear the warnings to leave, one family member said.
The witnesses said Yassin was in the hospital with broken bones in his hand and other injuries to his face, chest and back. Four cars at the nursery were burned.
The attack is the latest in rising Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, where assaults increased during the Palestinian olive harvest in October and have continued.
Israeli authorities have done little beyond issuing occasional condemnations of the violence.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the perpetrators “a handful of extremists” and urged law enforcement to pursue them for “the attempt to take the law into their own hands.”
But rights groups and Palestinians say the problem is far greater than a few bad actors, and attacks have become a daily phenomenon across the territory.
Israel’s army said it dispatched soldiers to the Shavei Shomron junction — close to the area of Thursday’s attack — following reports of dozens of masked Israelis vandalizing property.
The army said it apprehended three suspects who were taken to police for questioning. It said security forces condemn violence of any kind.
According to one of the family members who own the nursery, it was the third time in a year that the facility was attacked.
The previous incident was in September and cost the business more than $600,000 as offices and facilities were damaged, he said.
In the video of Thursday’s attack, Yassin runs from a group of masked people before falling to the ground.
One man kicks him and another hits him twice with what appears to be a stick. Yassin stays on his knees as he’s struck again and then places his hands on the ground.
As the men are leaving, one kicks him in the head while others strike him again until he’s seen lying on the pavement.
