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A United Nations report published in 2015 found that Israel and Palestinian militant groups most likely committed war crimes in the 2014 conflict,in which 2251 Palestinians,65 per cent of whom were civilians,died.
Gantz has embraced his past tenure. In January,he ran a campaign ad taking credit for the 1364 people the IDF says it killed in the 2014 war.
After he retired from the armed forces in 2015,Gantz spent a couple of years in the business world before turning his attention to vying for the top job in Israeli politics.
In December last year,Gantz announced the formation of a new party called Israel Resilience,which espoused policies that emphasised education and national security. In February,he joined forces with another centrist group to form the Blue and White party.
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Blue and White's platform makes its domestic stances clear. It calls for limited public transportation on the Sabbath,a longer schoolday to help parents who work full time and a term limit for the position of prime minister (a potential dig at Netanyahu,whom Gantz has criticised for staying in power for too long).
But Gantz and been less forthcoming on polarising issues such as the decades-old,intractable conflict with the Palestinians. While he has called for forging peace with Palestinians,he has declined to endorse a two-state solution that would form an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Analysts say that vagueness could be his attempt to siphon supporters from Netanyahu's camp who are not as right-wing.
"He reflects the defence establishment view that Israel needs to find ways for accommodation with the Palestinians when it comes to the West Bank and Gaza,"Makovsky said of Gantz.
While Netanyahu has called for the annexation of more territories in the occupied West Bank,experts say Gantz would most likely not pursue that kind of expansion.
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Yohanan Plesner,president of the Israel Democracy Institute,an Israeli think tank said that,under Gantz,"notions of unilateral annexation will be off the table".
However,he added that Gantz might be expected to"play along"with any kind of peace plan put forth by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner held a summit on the matter in Bahrain in June,seen as unproductive,given Palestinian and Israeli officials were not in attendance.
Now that the election is over and no party achieved enough votes to govern outright or form a coalition,questions remain over whether the seasoned military veteran can weather the turbulence of Israeli politics in the unity government-building process.
Plesner said that,while Gantz was a political novice,his ascension,despite a short time on the scene,has proven he might be something of a natural.
"Less than a year ago,he was completely a non-factor in the political system and now he's a few steps away from entering the prime minister's office,"Plesner said.
The Washington Post