Benny Gantz, Israeli opposition politician and former member of the country’s war cabinet, says Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu wants to drag out phase one of the Gaza ceasefire deal for “political interest”, Al Jazeera reports.

The National Unity party leader wrote on X that it is in Israel’s interest to return the captives as “quickly as possible” and not in “drips”.

“Time is working in favour of Hamas, which is arming itself and rehabilitating itself militarily and politically,” Gantz claimed.

He called on Netanyahu to “stop wasting time” and allow the deal to bring the captives home so Israel can “deal with Hamas without our hands tied”.