On Thursday, former Minister of the Israeli War Council, Benny Gantz, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of obstructing the conclusion of a prisoner exchange deal with the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip based on his “private political calculations.”

Last Sunday, Gantz, the leader of the State Camp party (12 out of 120 representatives in the Knesset), announced his resignation from the emergency government as a minister in the War Council, claiming that Netanyahu is obstructing the achievement of victory in Israel’s war on Gaza.

Gantz said, in an interview with the (official) Hebrew Broadcasting Corporation, that Netanyahu "is obstructing the conclusion of a prisoner exchange deal with the Palestinian factions based on his own political calculations, and not within the framework of seeing the interests of the State of Israel."

He added that Netanyahu "took several decisions during the last period for private and political considerations," without clarifying what these decisions were.

He continued: "I tried for several months to influence decisions within the War Council in the interest of the State of Israel, but that did not succeed."

The opposition in Israel says that Netanyahu is seeking to prolong the war on Gaza, because he knows that his “political future” will end with the cessation of this war, which has failed to achieve its goals. The matter could even lead to him being tried for “corruption cases” with which he has previously been accused.

In the same interview, Gantz said that he preferred to end the escalation with the Lebanese Hezbollah in northern Israel through “diplomatic means.”

But he added that Israel "will have no choice but to go to war" if diplomatic methods do not succeed in ending the escalation.

Last Sunday, Gantz and the other minister in his party, Gadi Eisenkot, announced their resignation from the emergency government, claiming that Netanyahu is preventing Tel Aviv from progressing towards “real victory” on the Gaza and northern fronts. Both called for setting an agreed upon date for early parliamentary elections.

Gantz and Eisenkot joined Netanyahu's government following the outbreak of war, and it became called the emergency government, after which a mini-war council was formed.

The withdrawal of Gantz and Eisenkot does not mean the dismantling of the government, as when they joined it, Netanyahu was already supported by 64 deputies, which allows his government to continue in power as long as it enjoys the confidence of at least 61 deputies.

An opinion poll conducted by the private Israeli Channel 12, the results of which were published last Monday, indicates that if parliamentary elections are held at the present time, the “state camp” will be the largest party with 22 seats, then the “Likud” party led by Netanyahu with 19 seats, while the opposition will obtain the necessary majority. To form a government.