At a press conference Tuesday night, head of the National Unity party, MK Benny Gantz, lashed back on the instance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remain at the Philadelphi corridor. Gantz said some of the prime minister's arguments are "weighty and some are meaningless," but that Netanyahu was not telling the public the truth about returning the hostages alive. "It didn't surprise me, because during the time we sat in the war cabinet Netanyahu delayed the ability to move forward with the hostage deals serially, including the first proposal," Gantz said.
MK Benny Gantz at a press conference Tuesday night.Credit: Tomer Appelbaum
Gantz said already at the start of the war, Netanyahu hesitated and held back on the demand to expand military operations to Khan Yunis and Rafah, and also refused an alternative proposal on the issue of the Philadelphi corridor.
Alongside MK Gadi Eisenkot, Gantz added that "We stand here in front of you to tell our truth: the hostages must be returned even at a very heavy price ... The Philadelphia corridor is not the existential threat to the State of Israel...controlling the Philadelphia corridor is important against smuggling and intensification, but Netanyahu knows that observation towers alone are a duck range for our fighters and do not stop tunnels. Netanyahu knows that there is a plan promoted by the security establishment to block the tunnels underground, which is the real solution to the corridor, but Netanyahu is not promoting it...and does not meet with the president of Egypt and does not design a solution for the Rafah crossing where dual-use materials pass. If he is not strong enough to withstand international pressure, let him put down the keys and go home."
"This is his policy, torpedoing the deal again and again and again," Ella Ben Ami, the daughter of hostage Ohad Ben-Ami, said of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli cabinet, screaming into the microphone at the protest in Tel Aviv.
"We have 101 hostages who are still there. My father is still there and he's alive! Everyone needs to get out of there…the only way is through a deal!," said Ami.
Yifat Calderon, the cousin of hostage Ofer Calderon said: "You (Netanyahu) approved the assassination (of Ismail Haniyeh), knowing that it would cause problems in the negotiations," and harm the hostages. "The military pressure that never helped the hostages – it has endangered the hostages," she said.
Protesters call for a hostage deal in Tel Aviv.Credit: Moti Milrod
Einav Zangauker, the mother of the hostage Matan Zangauker said: "The prime minister decided to bury my son under political rubble. I'm angry! I want to give a clear message to the coalition! Your failure will go down in the history books with the hostages murdered in captivity! You have one way not to get to this point, and it is" to get Netanyahu out of power.
"Switch him out for a leader who will bring a deal and sanity for the country!," she said.