Asharq Al Awsat Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that he decided to remain in the government after becoming convinced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the new Trump administration were committed to removing Hamas as a governing power from Gaza,

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been walking a tightrope since voting against the hostage deal in the fateful government meeting on Friday night, January 17. He negotiated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in order to receive guarantees that the deal would not prevent Israel from completing its other war goals – destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities,

The first stage of a cease-fire deal between Hamas and the Israeli government has gone into effect, but there is still no guarantee the remaining phases of the deal will be completed, leading to a permanent cease-fire.

US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his proposal to “clean out” Gaza by removing Palestinians living there to Jordan and Egypt, a plan which has appalled some allies but has been quickly embraced by Israel’s far right.

Nothing we’ve heard so far from the Israeli state gives confidence that the agreement will last past the first phase.

"There are more than 1.5 million people who have grown up for generations with hate for Israel and antisemitism," the Israeli finance minister told JNS.

The full scale of the humanitarian challenge ahead is emerging as displaced Palestinians return home, writes the BBC's Paul Adams.

Far-right finance minster says he is working on an 'operational plan' to turn idea into actionable policy; Otzma Yehudit leader says mass emigration is the 'humanitarian answer' The post Smotrich and Ben Gvir rally behind Trump’s Gaza emigration idea appeared first on The Times of Israel.

Mediator Qatar announced early Monday that an agreement has been reached to release an Israeli civilian hostage and allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, easing the first major crisis of the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon appeared at risk on Sunday as disputes continued over key deadlines, and local health officials said that Israeli forces opened fire on both fronts. In Gaza, Israel

US President Donald Trump said that Arab nations should increase the number of Palestinian refugees they accept from the Gaza Strip, drawing praise on Sunday from extreme right-wing Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Extreme right-wing Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has expressed praise for a proposal by US President Donald Trump for Gaza Strip Palestinians to be resettled in Arab countries. "After 76 years in which the majority of the population of Gaza was detained under hard conditions to maintain the aim of destroying Israel,