The return of all living Gaza hostages from Hamas captivity and the remains of several killed hostages has strengthened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition by four seats, according to a poll by Maariv published on Friday.
The coalition’s strengthening stems from the fact that the Religious Zionist Party passed the electoral threshold this week. Following these shifts, the coalition bloc now holds 52 seats, compared to 58 seats for the opposition, and an additional 10 seats for the Arab parties.
The poll showed that Yesh Atid weakened by three seats this week, dropping to seven, erasing the seats it had gained last week. Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar Party dropped by two seats, falling to six. Balad (1.9%) and Blue and White (2.6%) did not pass the electoral threshold.
Smotrich previously failed to pass electoral threshold
The coalition’s rise is surprising, as last week’s poll showed two parties within the bloc - Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit and Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionist Party - falling sharply due to their opposition to the Trump Peace Plan.
“Mixed emotions on this complicated morning: immense joy at the return of all our kidnapped brothers!” Smotrich said after the deal was signed.
“Gratitude for having led the opposition to partial deals that would have left at least half of them to rot in the enemy’s tunnels, and for insisting on continuing the war until all its goals were fully achieved, a demand that led to progress in conquering Gaza and applying the military pressure that forced Hamas to fold.”
While Smotrich did not threaten to withdraw from the government, he made it clear that “all options are on the table.”
Smotrich insisted that the deal could not be “hostages in exchange for halting the war,” and that Israel must ensure that Hamas is eliminated from Gaza.
“There will be no Hamas in Gaza, there will be no threat to Israelis from Gaza for decades to come, and it is important to say as well, there will be Jewish settlement in Gaza, because without long-term settlement there is no security,” he said.