Overview

• The cabinet and Knesset were set to vote on a U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release package as proceedings faced delays and mixed reporting on final terms.
• Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich said their parties will oppose the deal, citing the release of Palestinian prisoners and the lack of immediate dismantling of Hamas’s rule in Gaza.
• Ben-Gvir warned his Otzma Yehudit party could move to bring down the government if Hamas remains intact, while still indicating his faction would stay in the coalition for now.
• Reported terms vary, with accounts describing either all 48 remaining Israeli hostages or 20 living captives and 28 bodies to be returned in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a pause in fighting.
• If both Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism exit, the coalition could drop from 60 to 47 seats in the 120-member Knesset, a shift that Lapid says he is prepared to offset with support to pass the agreement.