Israel: A Temporary Government to Free the Hostages? The Opposition's Proposal to Netanyahu

The leader of an opposition party in Israel called on Benjamin Netanyahu and two other opposition leaders on Saturday evening to form a temporary government that would free all hostages in Gaza and remove the far right from power.

"I appeal to Netanyahu, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Lieberman. It is time to form a government to redeem the prisoners," declared Benny Gantz, leader of the center-right National Union party, referring to the release of the fifty or so hostages, alive or dead, still being held in the Gaza Strip.

Since the departure of ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi parties from his coalition in July, Prime Minister Netanyahu no longer has an absolute majority in parliament and is dependent on his far-right allies, who reject any hostage release agreement with Hamas and advocate continuing the war until the Palestinian Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip is annihilated.

Yair Lapid, leader of the main opposition party, Yesh Atid (center), has 24 Knesset seats. Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, has eight, the same number as Benny Gantz. Together with the 32 MKs of Netanyahu's Likud party (right), these three parties could form a coalition with a majority of 72 seats (out of 120) in parliament.

"Our state's duty is, above all, to save the lives of Jews and all citizens. Every hostage in mortal danger could be our son, your son," added Benny Gantz.

At the same time, tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated, as they do every Saturday evening, in Tel Aviv in support of the hostages and to demand that the government end the war launched on October 7, 2023 by Hamas, and an agreement allowing their release.

Hamas on Monday agreed to a draft agreement that, according to Palestinian sources, would provide for a 60-day truce during which the hostages kidnapped on October 7 and still held captive in Gaza would be released in two stages in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

On Thursday evening, Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had ordered "immediate negotiations" with a view to "the release of all [the] hostages and ending the war under conditions acceptable to Israel," without referring to the proposal of the mediators (Egypt, the United States and Qatar) approved by the Islamist movement.

The Israeli government has yet to confirm whether it will send a delegation of negotiators for a new round of talks at a location that has not yet been specified by the mediators.