National Unity chair Benny Gantz stated that he had urged Israel's military to shift its focus to Hezbollah on the northern border back in March when he was still serving as a minister in the government’s war cabinet.

"Operational efforts should have been redirected to the north in March, as we demanded," he said at the Aaron Institute for Economic Policy’s annual conference in Herzliya.

"Israel cannot sustain ongoing clashes in the north and cannot afford to lose another year," he added. "It's time to target military objectives and infrastructure in Lebanon, of which Hezbollah is a part, and to hold Lebanon accountable."

"Regrettably, the prime minister is hesitant and refuses to set the return of northern residents to their homes by September 1 as a war objective, and we are paying a heavy price for this," Gantz stated.