Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has resigned from the emergency government, which analysts believed is a sign of the increasing divisions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s post-conflict plans for Gaza.
Grantz, who announced his resignation on Sunday, told a news conference in Tel Aviv that the decision was made with a “heavy heart”.
“Unfortunately, Mr Netanyahu is preventing us from approaching true victory, which is the justification for the painful ongoing crisis,” he said.
The retired Army General has been an ardent critic of Netanyahu and during the conference he called on the prime minister to set a date for elections.
Netanyahu responded with a post on X, saying: “Benny, this is not the time to quit the campaign, this is the time to join forces.”
Last month, Gantz set a deadline of June 8 for Netanyahu to lay out how Israel would achieve its six “strategic goals”, including the end of Hamas rule in Gaza and the establishment of a multinational civilian administration for the territory.
The prime minister, however, disagreed with the former minister and described his comments as “washed-up words” that would mean “defeat for Israel”.
Gantz had been a member of Israel’s key decision-making “war cabinet”, along with the prime minister and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Israel formed a three-person war cabinet following the October 7, 2024 attacks.
Gantz’s resignation also means the withdrawal of the National Unity party that he chairs but the move will not topple the Israeli government, since Mr Netanyahu will still hold a comfortable majority of 64 in the 120-seat Knesset.
Gantz’s centrist National Unity party, which holds five posts in the government,was in opposition until 11 October 2023 when, after the start of the war following Hamas’s 7 October attacks, he agreed to form an emergency government with Mr Netanyahu.
The war against Hamas in Gaza has raged since the Palestinian militant group attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1200 Israeli citizens and taking over 200 others hostage.
Over 37, 000 Palestinians have been killed and over 82, 000 have been injured since the start of Israeli invasion of Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
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