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Benny Gantz has told Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth that Israel is ‘not looking to control anyone else’ and must learn the lessons from the Gaza withdrawal and implement them in other areas.

In the interview to be published tomorrow, Gantz said: “We – and Bibi said this in his Bar Ilan speech – are not looking to control anyone else. We have to find a path that leaves us not in control of most people.” Referencing Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, Gantz described the disengagement as being carried out with “a lot of political consideration”. He said that “all sides had a lot at stake and the state managed to do it without tearing the country apart … even though it was very painful for the settlers, it was handled well”. He added: “We must take the lessons of the Disengagement and implement them in other arenas.”

In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party said: “Gantz will form a leftist government with a coalition that relies on [Ahmad] Tibi and the Joint List.”

The New Right party said that Gantz wants to “expel more and more Jews from their homes during a unilateral disengagement from Judea and Samaria”. Naftali Bennett, the leader of the New Right said: “Only a strong New Right party will prevent Benny Gantz from becoming defence minister in the next Netanyahu government.”

Nabil Abu Rudeinah, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, described Gantz’s comments as “encouraging if he succeeds and he sticks to this opinion”. He added: “We don’t know him yet, we’ve heard about him. As President Abbas keeps saying, all that we need is an Israeli government that believes in peace”.

Gil Hoffman, The Jerusalem Post’s chief political correspondent, said Gantz made statements that “will undoubtedly anger Israelis from the Left, Right and Center”.

Following the controversy, Gantz clarified his comments, stating: “There will be no unilateral actions related to the evacuation of settlements.”