Shas and UTJ issued a joint statement Wednesday declaring their unequivocal support for any deal that would bring the hostages home.

“Despite the fact that we were forced to withdraw from the government due to repeated violations of agreements by our coalition partners, we are fully committed to our brothers and sisters, the captives in the tunnels in Gaza, both the living and the dead,” the statement read. “There is no more important mitzvah than pidyon shvuyim.”

The parties pledged to back “any proposal for a hostage agreement that is brought to the government and the Knesset,” and urged Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to act immediately to bring the hostages home. “We once again call on the prime minister to do everything in his power to return our kidnapped brothers and sisters, without exception, to their families as soon as possible.”

The declaration comes at a politically sensitive moment. Earlier this month, UTJ formally left the government after clashing over a proposed military enlistment bill authored by then-Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Yuli Edelstein. Shas followed suit shortly after, distancing itself from the cabinet while technically remaining part of the coalition.

The enlistment bill reignited long-simmering tensions between the Chareidi parties and secular lawmakers over the exemption of yeshiva students from IDF service. But despite their grievances and partial withdrawal from government, Shas and UTJ are now signaling that the fate of the hostages transcends political disagreements.

Their unified stance places additional pressure on Netanyahu, whose handling of hostage negotiations has faced mounting criticism both from families of the kidnapped and from segments of the security establishment. With public frustration boiling over and protests growing louder, the statement by the two influential Chareidi parties could mark a turning point in the political calculus surrounding any potential deal with Hamas.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)