Netanyahu dissolves his war cabinet

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahuha dissolved are war cabinetas reported this Monday by the local press, in a movement of apparent symbolic nature that was expected after the resignation of former general and until then minister Benny Gantz a little over a week ago.

The war cabinet, created after the Hamas attacks of October 7, consisted of six members: three members (including Gantz) and the rest only as observers.

Gantz, a centrist considered Netanyahu’s main political rival, resigned after months of rising tensions within the war cabinet over Israel’s Gaza strategy, which has revolved around the goals of defeating Hamas and freeing hostages, at the cost of causing a massacre in Gaza, where Israeli attacks have killed more than 37,000 people, and creating a serious humanitarian crisis in the Strip.

But as the war has dragged on, many Israelis (including Gantz) have expressed their frustration over lack of progress to free the hostages and reach a ceasefire agreement. The detractors of Netanyahu They argue that the prime minister has put his own political survival before the interests of the countryprolonging the war to avoid new elections and his own trial for corruption.

Gantz’s resignation left the existence of the war cabinet in question

For his part, Gantz, whose popularity has grown since the start of the war, gave Netanyahu a ultimatum last monththreatening to leave the cabinet on June 8 if the chief executive did not back a plan to return the hostages home, end the Hamas government, demilitarize the Gaza Strip, establish an international administration of civil affairs in Gaza , normalize relations with Saudi Arabia and expand military service to all Israelis.

When Netanyahu did not express support for the plan, Gantz announced his resignation and said that the “fateful strategic decisions” of the cabinet added to the “hesitation and postponement” motivated by “political considerations.”

Gantz’s departure from the war cabinet returned him to his role as opposition leader in the Israeli Parliament before the war. The move did not pose an immediate threat to Netanyahu, who controls a coalition with 64 of the 120 seats in parliament. But Gantz, a former rival of Netanyahu, called for Israel to hold elections in autumn during his resignation speech. He also encouraged the third member of the war cabinet, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, to “do the right thing” and resign, before Netanyahu went ahead and proceeded to dissolve the governing body on Monday.

The resignation removed a moderate voice from Israel’s far-right coalition. Gantz’s National Unity party joined the emergency government in the days after the Hamas attack in a show of unity.