On camera Gantz, a former army chief and opposition leader who joined Netanyahu's war cabinet last month, pointedly asked a TV crew to leave him alone with the families.
Facing a huge wave of criticism over his failure to prevent the shock Hamas infiltration of Israel on Oct. 7, Netanyahu has largely avoided the limelight while conducting a two-front war, one against Hamas and the other for his own political survival.
Israelis have shunned some of Netanyahu's fellow cabinet ministers, blaming them for failing to prevent the Palestinian Hamas gunmen from entering from Gaza, killing 1,200 people, abducting 240 more and engulfing the country in war.
Some 14,800 Palestinians have been killed in the war, Gaza health authorities say, and hundreds of thousands displaced.
Israel's longest-serving prime minister, Netanyahu has survived many a political crisis, staged several comebacks, and need not face another election for three years if his coalition remains in tact.
Persons:
Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Benny Gantz, Gantz, Netanyahu, Bibi, Anshel Pfeffer, Pfeffer, Israel, NETANYAHU, Abraham Diskin, Diskin, GANTZ, Gallant, pollster Mano Geva, Yair Lapid, Netanyahu's, Lapid, Howard Goller, Diane Craft
Organizations:
Rights, Hamas, Defence Ministry, Jerusalem's Hebrew University, Likud, Gantz's National Unity Party, Israel's, Qatar, Twitter, Thomson
Locations:
Tel Aviv, Israel, ABIR, Iran, Gaza, GAZA, Likud