Israeli prime minister seeks to retain Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich by offering phased annexation of enclave if Hamas rejects ceasefire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented a proposal to annex parts of the Gaza Strip to the security cabinet in an effort to prevent the resignation of far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, according to a report Monday by Israel’s Haaretz daily.
The paper, citing a senior Israeli official who was not named, said that according to the plan, Israel will declare that it is giving the Palestinian group Hamas a few days to agree to a ceasefire, and if it does not, it will begin annexing areas of the enclave until Hamas surrenders.
“The plan has received approval from the Trump administration,” the report added, framing it as a political maneuver by Netanyahu to maintain the stability of his governing coalition by appeasing Smotrich.
The timing of the plan coincides with heightened political tensions inside Israel. Smotrich recently threatened to resign after Netanyahu claimed Israel was allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza -- despite a deliberate starvation policy that has triggered a catastrophic famine in the besieged enclave.
Smotrich, however, walked back his threat earlier Monday. Netanyahu invited both Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to attend Monday evening’s cabinet meeting after they had previously been excluded from the decision to allow limited aid into Gaza.
The developments followed an Israeli military announcement authorizing limited airdrops of aid into the Gaza Strip and the implementation of what the army called a “localized tactical suspension of military activity” to allow aid convoys to pass.
Several international organizations have dismissed the steps as insufficient, calling them a distraction from the broader crisis.
Humanitarian agencies and rights groups accuse Israel of using hunger as a weapon against civilians in Gaza.
