Gantz criticizes expected Hezbollah truce: ‘We must not do only half the job’

National Unity leader Benny Gantz criticizes the expected proposal for a truce between Israel and Hezbollah as being “half the job” and says that Israel must maintain immediate freedom of action against Hezbollah.

“The idea that we will report to the committee and only then take action is fundamentally flawed, as Hezbollah can burn our intelligence sources and move the means of warfare,” Gantz writes on X, apparently referring to the international panel that will monitor the truce.

“It is impossible to speak in terms of a ‘temporary ceasefire.’ Withdrawing forces now will create a dynamic that will make it difficult for us, and make it easier for Hezbollah to regroup,” he says.

“We have paid so much — in the blood of our fighters, in the wounded, in the many days reservists have given to fighting, in budgets and armaments. The residents of the north have been evacuated for over a year, and those who live on the second line [of villages close to the border] are staying in bomb shelters,” he says.

“We must not do only half the job. We must not miss the opportunity for a strong agreement that will fundamentally change the situation in the north,” Gantz says.