Members of Netanyahu's govt resign over Gaza ceasefire deal

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00:00I just got an official notification from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

00:05that these three names, the three Israeli hostages, the British-Israeli citizen Emily

00:11Damari and two other civilians, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher, are all slated to

00:18be released later today.

00:20We don't yet have an updated schedule, so the ceasefire is not yet in place.

00:27We're sort of, I would say, ceasefire, but a few hours delayed.

00:32I think we should expect to have further notification about that within the next two or three hours

00:36at most.

00:37Right.

00:38And the national security minister, Ben Givier, resigned along with two other ministers from

00:42his party in opposition to the ceasefire.

00:45This is a major fracture within Israel's government.

00:50This is a very major fracture within the Israeli government.

00:54Despite the fact that this won't topple Netanyahu, it is a blow to him.

00:59It does weaken him.

01:00The other thing that's important to mention, Ben Givier is the most kind of extremist nationalist.

01:07He's been an extremely prominent provocateur since this government came into being two

01:13years ago.

01:14He was one of the proponents of returning to war, of rejecting the ceasefire.

01:19He has been overtly, overtly rejecting of any claims that Israel had any obligation

01:25to bring its civilian and military hostages home.

01:30And so Netanyahu is now, we see him and his other ministers trying to kind of patch things

01:36up by releasing messages indicating that Israel still may return to war, and they're trying

01:41to shore up popularity among that extremist right-wing base in Israel.

01:47And Noga, lastly, what is the general sentiment of Israelis at the moment?

01:50I mean, it must be a very anxious time for everyone involved, but also the Israeli citizens.

01:59Extremely anxious, extremely nerve-wracked.

02:02Last night, the entire France 24 team was at Hostages Square, and the feeling was really

02:08remarkably one of loss, a very somber feeling.

02:12And today has been a day filled with confusion.

02:15Until we heard just now from the office of the prime minister, in fact, the only thing

02:20we knew is that the list hadn't been arrived, that was announced by the Israeli army.

02:23And other than that, Israelis have been completely dependent on rumors and news coming out of

02:29Qatar, out of Doha.

02:31So I think now, again, there's a feeling of anticipation that hopefully things will go

02:37well and these three women will be seen alive in Israel sometime later today.

02:43But a lot will depend on seeing actually that process occur smoothly, as smoothly as possible.

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