Netanyahu Disbands War Cabinet Amid Key Resignations
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu dissolves war cabinet after key departures, forming a new smaller group to discuss Gaza conflict. A shake-up in political leadership amidst ongoing conflict with Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has disbanded his six-member war cabinet, just over a week after the departure of moderate opposition leader Benny Gantz and his ally Gadi Eisenkot, in a move that signals a significant shake-up in Israel's political leadership.
Following the dissolution of the war cabinet, a smaller, more intimate group will now convene to discuss sensitive issues related to the conflict with Hamas in Gaza, according to Israeli media reports.
Far-right ministers within Netanyahu's governing coalition had pressed him to join the war cabinet, a move that could have potentially exacerbated tensions with the US and other international partners, already strained due to the coalition's hardline stance.
Just days after the war began in October, Benny Gantz joined forces with Netanyahu's right-wing coalition to form a national unity government, a move aimed at presenting a united front amidst the conflict.
“The [war] cabinet was in the coalition agreement with Gantz at his request. As soon as Gantz left there is no need for a cabinet anymore,” Netanyahu told ministers on Sunday.
Haaretz said that the far-right National Security and Finance Ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, would debate some of the subjects previously considered by the war cabinet in the security cabinet.
It stated that important choices will be discussed in a “smaller consultation forum,” which was anticipated to include the war cabinet's observers, Aryeh Deri, the chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The change won't have an impact on the IDF, according to military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari on Monday.
“Cabinet members are being changed and the method is being changed. We have the echelon, we know the chain of command. We're working according to the chain of command. This is a democracy,” he told reporters.
In reaction to an extraordinary onslaught on southern Israel on October 7 that resulted in over 1,200 deaths and the kidnapping of 251 persons, the Israeli military began a campaign in Gaza to remove Hamas.
Gaza's health ministry, which is managed by Hamas, reports that since then, more than 37,330 people have died there.
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