Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit officially quits govt over hostage-ceasefire deal
The ceasefire agreement represents "capitulation to murderers," Ben-Gvir charges as he bows out of Netanyahu's coalition govt
The party of Israel's hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced on Sunday it was leaving the country's ruling coalition in protest of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage agreement, whose implementation begins the same day.
A press release by the Otzma Yehudit branded the U.S. and Qatar-brokered deal a "capitulation" to the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas and lashed out at the "release of hundreds of murderers" and the "renouncing of the IDF's achievements in the war" in Gaza.
Ben-Gvir and two other ministers — Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu and Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf — handed in their resignation letters to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who still retains a slim majority in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) despite their resignation.
"From this time onwards the Otzma Yehudit party is no longer party to the coalition,” the statement read.