Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, called on Wednesday for national elections in September as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government faces domestic and foreign pressure over the Gaza war.

“We have to agree on an election date in September, if you will, one year before the war,” Gantz said in a televised briefing. “Setting such a date will allow us to continue our military operations while paying Israel Citizens are sending a signal that we will soon regain their trust in us.”

Thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets in recent days to demand new elections. Many have criticized Netanyahu and expressed anger at the way his government has handled the 134 Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza six months into the war.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has repeatedly ruled out holding early elections, which polls suggest he will lose. He said going to the polls during the war would only benefit Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules Gaza.

His Likud party said on Wednesday that Gantz must “stop engaging in petty politics” during the war. “Elections now will bring paralysis, division, damage to the fight in Rafah and a fatal blow to opportunities for hostage trading,” Likud said.

Gantz is a former army general who joined Netanyahu’s government early in the war as a gesture of political unity during the crisis. Opinion polls show his party will come out on top in any election and he will be the favorite to take over as prime minister.

Netanyahu has promised to bring the hostages home and destroy Hamas, although it is unclear how Israel will be able to do that and experts doubt it is possible. Israel’s relentless air, ground and sea attacks have killed more than 32,000 Palestinians and led to a humanitarian disaster, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Surveys show that a majority of Israelis disapprove of Netanyahu’s leadership since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israeli neighborhoods that killed about 1,200 people and dozens more, according to Israeli statistics Hostages were taken.

If it remains unchanged, the next Knesset vote will be held on October 27, 2026, according to Israel’s Central Election Commission.