On Saturday, the Israeli Ministers of National Security and Finance, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, threatened to withdraw from the government if the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip was not invaded.

The official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that Ben Gvir and Smotrich threatened to withdraw from the government in order to dismantle it, if the possible military operation in Rafah was suspended.

This comes, according to the Commission, in light of the increasing possibility of stopping the military operation in Rafah in the event of concluding a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

The two extremist ministers also accuse the Israeli negotiating delegation of not assuming its responsibilities towards Israel's security, especially in the event of concluding a deal that might lead to the city of Rafah not being invaded at the present time, according to the same source.

According to previous statements by Israeli officials, Tel Aviv insists on invading Rafah, claiming that it is “the last stronghold of the Hamas movement,” despite increasing international warnings of catastrophic repercussions, in light of the presence of about 1.4 million displaced people there.

In recent months, Israeli media reported that Ben Gvir and Smotrich prevented Netanyahu from reaching an agreement with Hamas, under the threat of withdrawal from the government.

If the two parties, the “Jewish Power” party and the “Religious Zionism” party, led by Ben Gvir and Smotrich, withdraw, the current coalition government in place since December 2022 will fall.

Earlier Saturday, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz said that Tel Aviv would suspend the Rafah operation if a prisoner exchange agreement was reached with Hamas, while Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called for the deal to be concluded, according to the private Israeli Channel 12.

This came after the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, showed a video clip showing two Israeli prisoners demanding the Netanyahu government to release them, saying that they were living in difficult conditions under Israeli bombing.

Commenting on the clip, the families of Israeli prisoners said in a statement: “Israel must choose: (invading) Rafah or a deal (with Hamas),” according to the Hebrew newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth.”

For months, Egypt, Qatar, and the United States have been leading indirect negotiations between Israel and the Hamas movement, but they did not result in a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip or an exchange of prisoners and detainees between the two parties.

Tel Aviv estimates that there are about 134 Israeli prisoners in Gaza, while Hamas announced that 70 of them were killed in random raids carried out by Israel, which holds at least 9,100 Palestinian prisoners in its prisons. Their conditions have worsened since it began its war on Gaza, according to concerned Palestinian organizations. With prisoners.