Israel far-right ministers ratchet up pressure on Netanyahu to launch Rafah offensive

Amman: Far-right Israeli ministers Monday threatened to withdraw from Benjamin Netanyahu's government and go for early elections amid reports of progress in talks on a prisoner swap deal in Cairo, and following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's ultra-nationalist Finance Minister and leader of the National Religious Party-Religious Zionism, called on members of his bloc in the Knesset and ministers for "urgent consultations" to discuss their position on this issue, according to the website of Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. Smotrich later announced he had asked Netanyahu to convene the security cabinet to discuss war reports. He said in a letter to Netanyahu that increasing the pressure on Hamas in Gaza is the only way to return the hostages and destroy the group. An official in the right-wing government said on Monday "we have to hope that Netanyahu understands that without Rafah he will not be prime minister." The statements were publicly joined by National Sec urity Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who warned that if the prime minister decides to end the war without a large-scale attack on Rafah to defeat Hamas, he will not have a mandate to continue serving as prime minister." For their part, family members of the hostages in Gaza responded harshly to Ben Gvir and Smotrich, saying "those who represent an extremist minority are sacrificing 133 kidnapped people to death in the name of extremist religious hallucinations. Absolute victory will be achieved in a deal now, not in Rafah." Source:Jordan News Agency