Former Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz said on Monday that "prolonging the deal and postponing the negotiations serves Hamas because it needs to rehabilitate itself."

He added that negotiations on the next phase should have started and ended a long time ago.

"It is known to everyone that distributing payments over a period of time has a price, which is interest, so it is in our interest to pay a heavy price all at once," Gantz said.

"We have lost more than 30 kidnapped people who were alive since the previous deal, and every day that passes exposes the kidnapped people to more danger," he added.