Two members of his governing coalition, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have repeatedly denigrated several iterations of ceasefire proposals and did so again Wednesday following the announcement that the negotiations had reached the final stages.

“The deal that will be presented to the government is a bad and dangerous deal for the national security of the State of Israel,” Smotrich said. “Alongside the great joy and excitement of the return of every kidnapped man and woman, the deal takes back many achievements of the war in which the heroes of this nation risked their lives and will cost us, God forbid, much blood. We oppose it with all our might.”

Their opposition to a deal is believed to be a minority view that will not stop the Cabinet from approving it.

The agreement to stop the war, which has been more than a year in the making, is broken into three phases, only the first of which has actually been agreed upon by both sides.

During the initial phase, which is set to begin Sunday if there are no additional hold-ups and is supposed to last six weeks, 33 Israeli hostages will be released, Israel will withdraw some but not all of its forces from Gaza, while Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and the pause in the fighting will allow for a major surge of humanitarian aid to get into the enclave.

Hamas’s senior leadership and ranks have been decimated during the last roughly 15 months since its Oct. 7, 2023, attack resulted in the deaths of roughly 1,200 people and the kidnapping of about 250 others, 100 of whom or so are still being held. But Hamas has been able to recruit new members and continue their attempts to reconstitute.

The plan for the second phase is that the rest of the living Israeli hostages will be released, the remaining Israeli forces will withdraw from Gaza, and the two sides will negotiate an end to the war.

Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, have refused in previous months to agree to any deal that would end the war completely instead of pausing it, while Hamas has demanded that the negotiations include a definitive end.

“A clear condition for our remaining in the government is absolute certainty of returning to war with great force, on a full scale and in a new configuration until complete victory over all its components, foremost among them the destruction of the Hamas terrorist organization and the return of all the hostages to their homes,” Smotrich added.

Similarly, Ben-Gvir said, “I call on my friend, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, to join me in full cooperation against the terrible deal being crafted and to inform the prime minister clearly and firmly that if the deal goes through, we will resign from the government together.”

Ben-Gvir said he no longer has the power to stop the deal, though, after Netanyahu expanded his governing coalition by bringing in Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party in September 2024.

He also noted they the coalition “managed to prevent this deal from coming to fruition, time after time.”

Other Israeli politicians, including Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition and chairman of the Yesh Atid Party, shared their support of the deal. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the deal was “right” and a “necessary move,” adding that there is “no greater moral, human, Jewish, or Israeli obligation than to bring our sons and daughters back to us — whether to recover at home or to be laid to rest.”

Netanyahu may have to choose in the coming weeks between keeping his coalition together and ending the war.