Tel Aviv, MINA – Former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of seeking to prolong the Gaza war until the elections.
Lieberman, leader of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu Party, said that internal pressure would mount on Netanyahu after the hostages abducted by Hamas in October 2023 are returned and the war ends, Anadolu Agency reported.
“Netanyahu wants to extend the war until the elections,” Lieberman told Israel’s public broadcaster, KAN.
The former minister did not specify whether he was referring to elections after Netanyahu’s term ends in December 2026 or to possible early elections that may take place in late 2025 or early 2026.
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He added, “It is impossible to eliminate Hamas without first returning all the hostages (in Gaza) at once.”
Indirect negotiations began on July 6 in Doha, Qatar’s capital, aimed at reaching a deal involving a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel.
A source close to Hamas told Anadolu that the group had received the latest map from mediators, showing areas of Gaza still under Israeli control, and had begun internal consultations to assess those maps.
Nearly 59,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has devastated the enclave, rendering it uninhabitable. []
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