Due to the news of the rescue of four Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity, Minister-without-portfolio Benny Gantz delayed on Saturday a press conference he was scheduled to give in the evening, as the deadline he set to leave the government if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not meet his requirements expired Saturday night.
"Alongside the rightful joy at the achievement, we must remember that all of the challenges Israel is facing surrounding the return of the other 120 hostages, and surrounding the rest of the security challenges in all areas of the war, the region, the world, and at home, remain as they were," said Gantz in a statement Saturday night.
"And so I say to the prime minister and to the whole leadership, today we also must look responsibly on how we can and should proceed," he said.
While the release of Noa Argamani, Almog Meir, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv by Israeli security forces does not change the nature of the situation, at this stage, the planned statement is being pushed off, and the party will consider where things stand, said a spokesperson for the National Unity Party, when asked about what the delay of the statement means for the deadline, and if the rescue could impact the party's decision to stay in the government.
Six key objectives
Netanyahu called on Gantz to remain in the unity government on Twitter Saturday. "We must remain united within ourselves against the big missions that stand in front of us," he said. "I call on Benny Gantz - don't leave the emergency government. Don't give up on unity."
Gantz said on May 18 that his party would leave the government if Netanyahu did not adopt six objectives: Returning the hostages; demolishing Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip; providing a governing alternative in the Strip: returning residents of the North to their homes by September 1 and rehabilitating the western Negev; promoting normalization with Saudi Arabia; and adopting an outline for standardized national service in which all Israelis serve the country.
While Netanyahu publicly rejected the demands, the new Israeli proposal on a hostage deal with Hamas – which the entire war cabinet reportedly supported, and the details of which US President Joe Biden revealed in a speech last week – was not far from Gantz's demands, and therefore it was unclear whether he intended to quit the government at his deadline.
Jerusalem Post Staff and Eliav Breuer contributed to this report