Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has dissolved the country’s six-member war cabinet, an Israeli official said on Monday, in a widely expected move that came after the departure of centrist former general Benny Gantz.
Netanyahu is now expected to hold consultations about the war in Gaza with a small group of ministers, including Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer who had been in the war cabinet.
Netanyahu had faced demands from the nationalist-religious partners in his coalition, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, to be included in the war cabinet, a move which would have intensified strains with international partners including the United States.
The forum was formed after Gantz joined Netanyahu in a national unity government at the start of the war in October and also included Gantz’s partner Gadi Eisenkot and Aryeh Deri, head of the religious party Shas, as observers.
Gantz and Eisenkot both left the government last week, over what they said was Netanyahu’s failure to form a strategy for the Gaza war.
A senior adviser to US President Joe Biden will travel to Israel on Monday to advance efforts to avoid further escalation between Israel and Lebanon, a White House official said Sunday.
The Lebanon-based Hezbollah movement last week launched the largest volleys of rockets and drones yet in the eight months it has been exchanging fire with the Israeli military, in parallel with the Gaza war
At least 37,337 Palestinians have been killed and 85,299 injured in Israel’s war in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.
Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people were taken hostage, with about 120 remaining in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Many have been declared dead by Israeli authorities.
©AFP