Benjamin Netanyahu faces pressure from his own Likud MPs to reject Biden's Gaza peace deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming under pressure from MPs of his own party to reject the current US ceasefire plan with Hamas, according to reports in the Israeli media on Saturday.

Eight Likud Party MPs sent a letter to Netanyahu outlining their “red lines” regarding the current deal and warning that acceptance of the current proposal would lead to the end of the current far-right coalition that keeps him in power.

The members, Amit Halevi, Hanoch Milwidsky, Dan Illouz, Moshe Saada, Arik Kliner, Shalom Danino, Tali Gottlieb, and Nissim Vaturi, accepted the importance of bringing Israeli hostages in Gaza back home, but emphasised that “the only effective way to return the abductees is to militarily subdue Hamas,” according to Channel 12 News.

The signatories expressed their opposition to the plan of releasing detainees in batches, which is the manner of release included in the peace proposal of US President Joe Biden, instead supporting their release all at once.

“Any agreement that does not include the return of all abductees at once, and not in stages, effectively sentences the remaining live abductees to death. Therefore, in any case, any agreement that does not include the full return of all abductees should not be accepted at all,” the letter reads.

The Likud members also categorically reject the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, which is a key demand of Hamas.

The letter comes amid reports that the US is putting pressure on Netanyahu to accept the peace deal, which would see a phased captive exchange deal that would eventually lead to a permanent ceasefire.

On Sunday, Israeli radio station Kan Reshet Bet reported that significant pressure is being exerted on Netanyahu to approve the updated Israeli response today, so it can be conveyed to the mediators before Netanyahu's scheduled meeting with Joe Biden next Tuesday in Washington.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a long-sought ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was within sight, saying negotiators were "driving toward the goal line".

Blinken told the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado that Hamas and Israel had agreed to the ceasefire framework outlined by Joe Biden in May after a lot of pushing and diplomacy but said that some issues needed to be resolved.

However, with both the far-right of Netanyahu’s coalition, represented by Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, and members of his own Likud Party opposing it, it seems that this round of diplomacy could end in another rejection of peace.