A former head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of abandoning hostages in Gaza and clinging to power for his personal gain.

"The truth is that our hostages in Gaza have been abandoned in favor of the government’s messianic ideology and by a prime minister in Benjamin Netanyahu who is desperate to cling to power for his own personal gain," Ami Ayalon said in an op-ed published in the Guardian on Tuesday.

“Our government is undermining the democratic functions of the state to shore up and protect its own power. It is forcing us into a perpetual war with no achievable military objectives, which can only result in more loss of life and hatred.”

Ayalon said 70 percent of the Israeli public agrees that there must be "a comprehensive end to the war in return for bringing our hostages home, and an election as soon as possible so that this government can be replaced."

The former security chief cited that thousands of military and intelligence personnel have signed petitions and letters demanding an end to the Israeli war on Gaza in return of Israeli captives.

Petitions for hostage return and end of war

According to the latest Israeli figures, nearly 150,000 Israelis have signed petitions demanding the return of hostages from Gaza and ending the war.

"We need our friends from outside Israel to express their support for the Israeli people and not an extremist government committed to unravelling the fabric of the state," Ayalon said.

He warned that Israel under Netanyahu's rule is facing an "existential" threat.

"If we cannot build enough momentum to create a course correction, the very existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state is under threat."

Israel currently believes that 24 of the 59 remaining hostages in Gaza are still alive. At the same time, more than 9,500 Palestinians are imprisoned in Israeli jails, with numerous reports of torture, starvation, and medical neglect leading to the deaths of detainees.

An initial ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between the Palestinian resistance group Hamas and Israel, brokered by Egypt and Qatar with American backing, began on Jan. 19 and was violated by Israel last month.

More than 52,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.