Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reassured his security cabinet that he has received “unequivocal guarantees” that the Jewish state will have US backing if the war in Gaza were to resume as a result of Hamas violating the ceasefire deal.

“We have received unequivocal guarantees — from both [outgoing US President Joe] Biden and [President-elect Donald] Trump — that if the negotiations on phase two [of the ceasefire] fail and Hamas does not accept our security demands, we will return to intense fighting with the backing of the United States,” Netanyahu said in a statement on Friday, according to Israeli media reports.

The Israeli security cabinet on Friday voted to approve a ceasefire and hostage-release deal that would halt fighting in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. The war began when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 hostages. Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the captives and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.

Some 98 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, and about a third to half of them are believed to be dead.

Under the six-week first phase of the three-stage deal, Hamas will release 33 Israeli hostages, including all women (soldiers and civilians), children, and men over 50. Meanwhile, Israel will release all Palestinian women and children under 19 detained in Israeli jails by the end of the first phase. The total number of Palestinians released will depend on hostages released, and could be between 990 and 1,650 Palestinians, including men, women, and children. The Palestinian prisoners were largely detained for involvement in terrorist activities.

Following the first 16 days of the ceasefire, negotiators are expected to commence discussions on phase two of the agreement, which could result in the release of the remaining Israeli hostages and complete removal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip. 

“During the next six weeks, Israel will negotiate the necessary arrangements to get to phase two, which is a permanent end of the war,” US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday. 

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened to resign if the ceasefire was approved, demanding that Israeli troops be allowed to prosecute the war against Hamas. However, he said he would not bring down the government.

In response, Netanyahu’s Likud Party released a statement arguing that the ceasefire deal does not compromise Israel’s security demands.

“[T]he existing deal allows Israel to return to fighting under American guarantees, receive the weapons and means of warfare it needs, maximize the number of living hostages that will be released, maintain full control of the Philadelphi Route [on the Gaza-Egypt border] and the security buffer that surrounds the entire Gaza Strip, and achieve dramatic security achievements that will ensure Israel’s security for generations,” Likud said in a statement. 

The statement came after US Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), who is set to become White House national security adviser under Trump, owed that the Trump administration will support Israel renewing military operations in Gaza if Hamas launches more attacks against the Jewish state and violates the agreement.

“We’ve made it very clear to the Israelis, and I want the people of Israel to hear me on this: If they need to go back in, we’re with them. If Hamas doesn’t live up to the terms of this agreement, we are with them,” Waltz told Fox News on Wednesday evening. “Hamas is not going to continue as a military entity, and it is certainly not going to govern Gaza.”