Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz on Saturday urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and fellow opposition heads Yair Lapid and Avigdor Lieberman to form a temporary government excluding the far right, with the goal of securing the release of hostages held in Gaza.
Benny Gantz © Mena Today
Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz on Saturday urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and fellow opposition heads Yair Lapid and Avigdor Lieberman to form a temporary government excluding the far right, with the goal of securing the release of hostages held in Gaza.
The hostages were abducted during Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack, which killed over 1,200 people in Israel and triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. About 50 hostages, dead or alive, are still believed to be in captivity.
Netanyahu lost his parliamentary majority in July after ultra-Orthodox parties quit his coalition over conscription disputes, leaving him dependent on far-right allies opposed to any deal with Hamas. Gantz argued that only a new centrist coalition could break the deadlock, calling for a “government of prisoner redemption.”
Tens of thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv the same evening, demanding the hostages’ release and an end to the war. Critics accuse Netanyahu of prolonging the conflict and sacrificing the captives to appease far-right partners.
Hamas has accepted a proposal for a 60-day truce and phased hostage release in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Netanyahu has ordered “immediate negotiations” but has not endorsed the mediators’ plan.
While pressing for a deal to bring the hostages home, Gantz, a former military chief, insisted the war against Hamas must continue until the group is dismantled.
Lebanon's embassy in Washington said in a statement on Monday that Hezbollah had accepted a U.S. proposal for a mutual cessation of hostilities that would be extended to encompass all Lebanese territory.
Israel's defence ministry said on Monday France had banned Israeli government officials from a major weapons show in Paris, and had imposed restrictions on companies from the country exhibiting there.
The medieval Beaufort Castle's stone ramparts tower so far above south Lebanon that Israel could hail their capture as a strategic victory, even as it evoked the miseries of a previous occupation.
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