Retired Major General Alon criticizes Netanyahu for ceasefire and prisoner exchange

Speaking at the event organized by the Washington Institute of Near East Studies, retired Major General Alon said that the prolonged attacks of the Israeli army on the Gaza Strip caused loss of life.

Criticizing Netanyahu's insistence on signing a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement, Alon said:

"We were able to free all the (Israeli) captives a year ago without affecting the outcome of the war. We could have saved the captives who were killed in the process, and we missed that opportunity. The war went on too long."

Alon said protesters gathering in city squares every week until October 2025, calling for Netanyahu to sign an immediate ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement, "gave him the strength to continue" as part of the Israeli negotiating team.

Alon, who retired from the Israeli army at the end of 2025, criticized Israel's far-right administration's insistence on not making a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement last July and said that if different decisions had been made, many Israeli prisoners who died could have returned home alive.

Stating that the attacks on the Gaza Strip "could end at least a year earlier," Alon said, "The cabinet and political leadership rejected previous comprehensive agreements under the name of 'absolute victory', which is actually a deception," and emphasized that this decision was taken in line with domestic political goals rather than strategy.

The ceasefire agreement in Gaza entered into force on October 10, 2025, and in the first phase, steps such as prisoner exchange, increased humanitarian aid entry and partial withdrawal of the Israeli army from some regions were implemented. Palestinian sources state that Israel has not fully fulfilled its obligations under the agreement and the attacks continue.

In the second phase of the agreement, it is envisaged that the management of Gaza, reconstruction, deployment of international forces, Israeli withdrawal and some political-security arrangements will be addressed.

Representatives of Palestinian groups and guarantor countries started contacts regarding the second phase of the ceasefire in Cairo on June 7.