Former Justice Minister Haim Ramon spoke out against the proposed ceasefire-prisoner swap deal, saying that it is "the worst deal" that Israel could possibly agree to.
In an interview with 103 FM Radio, Ramon said, "The deal proposed today is the worst of all worlds. In practice, we will end the war. Anyone who thinks that after 42 days, by pressing a button, we will restart the war - is making a mistake. People will return to the Gaza border area, to the north, and it will be very hard to continue the war."
"Because it is this way, and we will receive only 20 living hostages and not the rest, there is no way that Hamas and [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar will implement the second part" of the deal," he explained.
"What needs to be offered to Sinwar is to end the war on condition that all the hostages are returned, with all of the heavy prices, with the Philadelphi [Corridor]. All at once, they all come back. If they all come back, that has a value which it is hard to imagine from the perspective of Israeli society, from the perspective of how how we will feel, and the lowly murderers? Their day will come. But all of them need to be returned, with all the enormous significance. If Sinwar says no, it only proves that he does not want to release them all."
Regarding the management of the war, he added, "We made horrific mistakes. If you do not go into the area, control it, deal with it - the plan to be in and out was wrought with disaster - every time we went in and out, Hamas recovered itself. Look what happened in Khan Yunis. The government and Cabinet, led by [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, [Defense Minister Yoav] Gallant, and [MK Benny] Gantz made a mistake in their strategic plan, because it could not achieve the goal of bringing down Hamas' military and civilian [infrastructure]."