Gantz pressures Netanyahu to secure a hostage release deal
Former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a national unity government with opposition figures in an attempt to secure a deal for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu’s governing coalition relies heavily on the support of far-right parties that reject both ending the war in Gaza and reaching any form of agreement with Hamas. Despite initially joining Netanyahu’s government at the onset of the conflict triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, Gantz has since distanced himself and proposed creating a temporary coalition that would exclude ultranationalist factions. This, he argues, would pave the way for progress on a hostage deal.
“I am here on behalf of the hostages who have no voice. I am here for the soldiers who are crying out but whom no one in this government listens to,” Gantz said. He stressed that “the state’s foremost duty is to save the lives of Jews and all citizens,” while urging opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Avigdor Lieberman to reconsider their rejection of joining any Netanyahu-led government.
Netanyahu’s coalition faces growing instability following the Knesset’s summer recess, having lost the backing of ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties after the controversial decision to draft yeshiva students into military service.
Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right National Security Minister and one of the coalition’s most prominent figures, swiftly condemned Gantz’s proposal. He declared that “right-wing voters chose right-wing policies—not Gantz’s agenda, not a centrist government, not surrender deals with Hamas, but a policy of absolute victory.”
The Netanyahu government is under mounting internal pressure to end the war, with recurring protests demanding an agreement to free the hostages. Earlier this week, Netanyahu said he had instructed negotiators to push for the hostages’ release, while also announcing plans for a renewed military offensive to seize control of Gaza City.
The plan, already approved by the Security Cabinet, has sparked opposition within Israel due to fears over the hostages’ fate and concerns that it would deepen Gaza’s severe humanitarian crisis after nearly twenty-two months of war.
On Friday, the United Nations formally declared famine in Gaza, stating that 500,000 people are experiencing “catastrophic” levels of hunger—a finding Netanyahu dismissed as “a blatant lie.” International mediators are still awaiting Israel’s official response to their latest ceasefire proposal, which Hamas has already accepted.
On Saturday, thousands of protesters again took to the streets of Tel Aviv. Yotam Cohen, whose brother Nimrod is being held in Gaza, lamented: “Instead of saving lives, Netanyahu is condemning the living hostages to death and depriving us forever of those already lost.”
Of the 251 people abducted during Hamas’s 2023 attack, 49 remain in captivity in Gaza, including 27 whom Israel has declared dead.
