Opposition leader Yair Lapid told US officials that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "has a safety net from me for a hostage deal and an end to the war," he confirmed in an X/Twitter post on Saturday night.
"[Netanyahu] has a majority in the Knesset and a majority in the country," he added, claiming that "there's no need to get excited about the empty threats from [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir and [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich."
Lapid has told Netanyahu several times since the Israel-Hamas War began that he would provide him with a "safety net" in order to secure the votes for a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza, including in January, May, and August this year.
Gantz's temporary government to redeem hostages proposal failed
In August, Blue and White Party head Benny Gantz called on Netanyahu, Lapid, and Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman to form a temporary “government of redemption for the hostages” for a period of six months.
At the time, Gantz aid that the temporary government should focus on two primary goals: securing the release of hostages held by Hamas and passing the controversial haredi (ultra-Orthodox) draft law.
He also said that elections should be scheduled following the completion of these objectives.
However, Lapid rejected this proposal, calling it unnecessary given his recurring offer of a safety net for Netanyahu to pass a hostage deal vote in Knesset.
Despite Lapid's statements, he, along with Liberman, Yashar! with Gadi Eisenkot chairman, and Democrats chairman Yair Golan announced last Saturday that they will turn their joint meetings into a permanent forum, called the "change bloc" to defeat Netanyahu's government in the next elections.
Keshet Neev contributed to this report.