Ben-Gvir will be rejoining the government after Israel renewed attacks on Gaza, despite a ceasefire [Getty]
Former Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who left the government over the Gaza ceasefire, will rejoin the coalition on Tuesday, the same day Israel carried out a widespread assault on the enclave killing at least 413 Palestinians.
The decision was announced in a joint party statement, as Israel continues to bomb and besiege Gaza, with 404 Palestinians – including many children – in overnight bombing during the holy month of Ramadan.
Ben-Gvir, who also leads the Otzma Yehudit (“Jewish Power”) party, will be reappointed as head of National Security while all ministers in his party will be reinstated to their previous positions, the statement read.
Ben-Gvir’s return comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was left with only a thin parliamentary majority following his departure in January.
The extremist minister posted a photo of himself with Netanyahu, captioning it: “Together strongly, for Israel.”
Ben-Gvir said on 17 January that he and his party colleagues would quit the cabinet if it approved a ceasefire deal.
“If this irresponsible agreement is approved and implemented, the Jewish Power party will not be part of the government and will leave it,” he said at the time.
“If the war against Hamas resumes, with intensity, in order to achieve the objectives of the war that have not been achieved, we will return to the government,” he continued.
Ben-Gvir has repeatedly called for the war on Gaza to restart and previously blocked repeated attempts to reach a truce to end the killings, which has left around 62,104 Palestinians killed.
His return comes after a renewed Israeli offensive on Gaza, which started at around 2am local time, and was ordered by Netanyahu, who claimed they were in response to Hamas’s unwillingness to extend the first phase of the deal.
Gaza’s government media office said “entire families” were wiped out with many “women, children and elderly” people killed.
The shock attack on Gaza also came on the same day Netanyahu was set to provide testimony in his corruption trial, forcing the court to annul the hearing, Israeli media reported.
In his request to cancel the hearing, Netanyahu wrote: “This morning at 11 am an urgent security consultation will take place that will include the prime minister, defence minister and heads of the IDF security.”
The ceasefire deal was supposed to transition to phase two on 2 March, which would have seen an indefinite end to attacks on the Strip.
However, Israel instead implemented a complete blockade on the enclave, stopping all aid, medical supplies, and shelter materials from entering.
While politicians in Israel have hailed the renewed attacks on Gaza, Hamas has denounced “Netanyahu and his extremist government” and called on “free people of the world” to protest the latest attacks.
A statement from the group called on people to “raise their voice in rejection of the resumption of the Zionist war of extermination against our people in the Gaza Strip”.
The group has also reiterated that it was committed to the ceasefire deal and was ready to comply with the proposal suggested by Trump’s envoy Adam Boehler, which would see an Israeli-American captive freed and the bodies of four dual nationals returned before moving onto the second phase.
