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January 14, 2025 | 11:54 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Angry family members of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza lashed out at Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday over his rejection of a Gaza ceasefire deal being negotiated in Qatar to halt the fighting and bring their relatives home, Reuters reported.
Smotrich described the deal as a “disaster” for Israel’s security and said Israel must continue its campaign in Gaza until Hamas, the militant group that controlled the enclave before the war, fully surrenders.
Dozens of family members, many carrying photos of the missing, crowded into a committee room in Israel’s parliament where the finance committee was meeting to examine the 2025 budget.
Some angry, some crying and pleading, they attacked Smotrich in an emotional meeting that lasted more than an hour, accusing him of abandoning the 98 Israeli and foreign hostages still in Gaza.
"These kidnapped people can be returned," said Ofir Angrest, whose brother Matan was taken hostage during a Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
"The conditions are ripe, it's time for a deal, the prime minister said it. How can you, the finance minister, oppose the return of all these prisoners?"
Smotrich, the leader of one of the hardline nationalist religious parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition, has been one of the most vocal opponents of the deal, which he described as a "surrender" to Hamas.
Qatar, which is mediating the talks with Egypt and the United States, said it had presented a draft agreement to Israel and Hamas following a "breakthrough" overnight.
Yechiel Yehud, whose daughter Arbel was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and whose son Dolev was killed, reminded Smotrich that he had visited their home in the kibbutz.
"I know your heart is in the right place, but you are required to do more than that," he said.
Final Draft
Mediators presented Israel and Hamas on Monday with a final draft of a Gaza ceasefire deal to end the war, an official briefed on the negotiations said, after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by envoys from Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Reuters reported.
The official said the text for the ceasefire and hostage release was presented by Qatar to both sides at the talks in Doha, including the heads of Israel’s Mossad and Shin Bet spy agencies and Qatar’s prime minister.
The official said Steve Witkoff, who will become the U.S. envoy when Trump returns to the presidency next week, attended the talks. A U.S. source said the outgoing Biden administration’s envoy, Brett McGurk, was also present.
“The next 24 hours will be critical to reaching an agreement,” the official said, describing the draft as the result of a breakthrough achieved in the early hours of Monday.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been working for more than a year on talks to end the war in Gaza, but so far they have yielded no results.
Editor’s Choice: Final Draft of Gaza Truce Deal Presented After 'Breakthrough'
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