Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must leave office, his predecessor Naftali Bennett has told a televised interview, refusing to say whether he intends to challenge the country’s longest-serving leader in an election, AFP reports.

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, former prime minister Bennett said Netanyahu “has been in power for 20 years… that’s too much, it’s not healthy”.

“He bears… heavy responsibility for the divisions in Israeli society”, Bennett said of growing rifts within Israel under Netanyahu, who has a strong support base but also staunch opponents who have demanded his departure.

Netanyahu “must go”, said the former prime minister, a right-wing leader who in 2021 joined forces with Netanyahu critics to form a coalition that ousted him from the premiership after 12 consecutive years at the helm.

Criticising the Netanyahu government’s “inability to decide”, the former prime minister called for an immediate “comprehensive” agreement that would see all remaining hostages freed from Gaza.