"Working to stop the negotiations with Hamas," he writes on X.
"When six hostages are brutally murdered, a country should not negotiate with the murderers, but instead stop supplying them with fuel and electricity, and crush them," he continues – and adds that the tough line should also apply in the West Bank.
Israel has sent very mixed signals in recent days, following the discovery of six people from the Palestinian Hamas being held hostage in the Gaza Strip being found dead. According to the media house Kan, negotiator David Barnea is said to have told mediators that Israel promises to withdraw from the so-called Philadelphi corridor between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. At the same time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly stated that Israel must control the corridor, otherwise Hamas' arms smuggling will continue.
However, Israeli media note that the government has not denied reports of Barnea's promises. Netanyahu has a difficult balancing act between far-right allies like Ben-Gvir, and more compromising ones who think it is more important to bring home the hostages than to maintain the toughest possible line against Palestinian extremists.
