A growing chorus of thousands of Israeli soldiers, reservists and former senior military officials have signed open letters demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu make a deal with Hamas to end the war and secure the freedom of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

The letters criticise Netanyahu for his decision last month to abandon a ceasefire with Hamas and return to fighting rather than proceed with a deal that could have resulted in the remaining 59 hostages — some two dozen of whom are alive — being freed in exchange for a permanent truce.

Current and former reservists in units of special operations commandos and offensive cyber operatives both released letters this week, with a similar one from various infantry units. The number of signatories of the letters has continued to grow, surpassing 1,000 in some cases.