Gantz calls for deal to free all the hostages ‘even if the price is a long ceasefire’

National Unity chairman Benny Gantz demands that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu come to an agreement to free all of the hostages “even if the price is a long ceasefire.”

“There is no war in Gaza — there is fighting. Right from the beginning, we determined that the intense campaign would last three months, followed by continued fighting for a year or perhaps more, in order to dismantle Hamas’s military infrastructure. That’s long overdue,” Gantz, who served in Netanyahu’s now-defunct war cabinet, tells reporters ahead of his party’s weekly faction meeting at the Knesset.

“I said from the beginning that the process of reshaping Gaza would take about a decade. It’s time to explain this to the public and start working to shape this reality, instead of letting others decide over our heads,” he says.

“Our interest is to return all the hostages, as quickly as possible — and not to spread it around in another phased deal that will leave some of the hostages as bargaining chips for Hamas,” Gantz continues.

“Even if the price is a long ceasefire, it is clear to the world and clear to us that we cannot live with a terrorist organization that is arming itself on our border. In my opinion, Hamas will not become a peace movement. We must take advantage of the deal to change the regime in Gaza and demilitarize it. We must not give in to Hamas’s plan to stall for time.”

Turning to the wider region, Gantz says that he supports “normalization with Syria” but that any agreement with Damascus must be carefully considered.

“Let it be clear — Syria is not the UAE, Morocco nor Bahrain. It shares a border with us and is a country that initiated a war against us in the past. The regime suffers from instability and still has a lot to prove. Any future agreement must be first anchored by security arrangements. We must not withdraw from the strategic positions safeguarding our ability to protect the people of the Golan Heights. We must also safeguard the interests of our Druze brothers and sisters. Any arrangement with Syria must start with the preservation of Israel’s security superiority in the area,” he says.

Asked about US President Donald Trump’s demand to end the prime minister’s ongoing criminal trial, Gantz replies that “this is an internal matter of the State of Israel… and there is no room for external intervention or influence in this matter.”