"Mr. Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu), after Hamas once again rejected the proposed deal, there are no more excuses for anyone to continue this chaos in Gaza," Ben-Gvir said in a post on the X platform.
On Thursday, Hamas announced that it had received a proposal from mediators for a prisoner exchange and ceasefire, and that it was "studying it responsibly in a way that serves the interests of the Palestinian people, contributes to their relief, and achieves a permanent ceasefire."
Ben-Gvir added, "We have missed enough opportunities. It is time to enter with all our might (into the already occupied and devastated Gaza Strip) to destroy Hamas, kill it, and defeat it."
Contrary to claims made by Ben-Gvir, leader of the far-right Jewish Power party, Hamas has not announced its final position on the Witkoff plan, while Netanyahu has declared his approval of it.
Yesterday, White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt said that Washington had presented Hamas with a ceasefire proposal in Gaza that had Israeli support.
Ben-Gvir did not clarify what he meant by "entering with all our might," despite the devastating war in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, which has led to the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians and the destruction of most of the Strip's buildings, institutions, and infrastructure.
According to Hebrew media, Witkov's new proposal includes Tel Aviv releasing 150 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences, and 1,100 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip arrested after the events of October 7, 2023, in exchange for Hamas releasing 10 living Israeli prisoners.
Tel Aviv estimates that there are 58 Israeli prisoners in Gaza, 20 of whom are still alive. Meanwhile, more than 10,100 Palestinians are languishing in its prisons, suffering torture, starvation, and medical neglect, many of whom have died, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights and media reports.
Hamas has repeatedly affirmed its willingness to release Israeli prisoners "in one batch" in exchange for an end to the war of extermination, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza, and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
But Netanyahu, who is wanted by international justice, insists on partial deals and evades them by proposing new conditions, including the disarmament of Palestinian factions. He is currently insisting on reoccupying Gaza.
The Israeli opposition and the prisoners' families assert that Netanyahu is continuing the war in deference to the more extreme right-wing faction within his government, to advance his personal political interests, particularly his continued rule.
With full American support, Israel has been committing genocidal crimes in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 177,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands displaced.
