Far-right Israeli minister sets 'red lines' for Netanyahu on Gaza
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday issued six demands to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the latter's Gaza ceasefire talks with President Donald Trump at the White House.

Smotrich heads the Religious Zionism party, which holds seven seats in parliament and is in coalition with Netanyahu’s government. Though he wished the prime minister "much success" in a Monday post to X, Smotrich also said that his party "will not compromise" on key demands.
The finance minister said that "Israel's security is not achieved through political agreements that are not worth the paper they are written on or through commitments and guarantees that hold no water."
Smotrich demanded that Netanyahu ensure "a true and complete withdrawal of Hamas from Gaza and a full and genuine disarmament of all terror infrastructures above and below ground."
The Israel Defense Forces, he said, should "forever" remain deployed at the perimeters ringing Gaza plus in the Philadelphi Corridor that runs along the strip’s southern border with Egypt, while retaining full operational freedom across the territory.
Smotrich demanded there be no agreement on Palestinian Authority or Qatari involvement in Gazan governance, nor anything that supports the concept of a future independent Palestinian state.
The minister said that Gazans who want to leave the strip should be allowed to do so through Egypt to "continue their lives in other places that agree to accept them."
Smotrich also urged Netanyahu to "utilize the historic opportunity" to "politically and practically" cement Israeli control over the occupied Palestinian West Bank.







