Pressure is mounting on Benjamin Netanyahu to change course in the seven-month war against Hamas after a key member of his war cabinet threatened to resign on Saturday, adding to weeks of foreign criticism.
The Israeli Prime Minister faces an uprising within his own three-member war cabinet, both over the tactics used in ongoing operations in Gaza and future planning for the small strip of land that has become the center of a humanitarian crisis. .
Former defense minister and Netanyahu rival Benny Gantz said he would give the prime minister three weeks to adopt a new plan.
“The people of Israel are watching you, you must choose between Zionism and cynicism,” he said Saturday at a press conference.
Gantz joins current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who publicly challenged Netanyahu on Wednesday over what he called his refusal to discuss the direction of the war. He said This reluctance to enter into discussions could lead to Israeli dominance over the strip, which it opposes.
“People with military backgrounds understand that if there is no plan, there will be a war of attrition that will take years and Israel will pay a heavy price,” Gideon Rahat, a professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told NBC News. .
Gantz’s intervention comes amid renewed doubts about the government’s war strategy, as the Israeli Defense Forces battle Hamas in areas of northern Gaza that Israel had previously declared clean and under control.
A friendly fire incident on Wednesday also killed 5 Israeli soldiers in the Jabalia camp during crossfire from IDF tanks.
Since the IDF entered Jabaliya, more than 300 homes have been destroyed in the camp, Gaza civil defense said Sunday in a statement. Hundreds of dead bodies were also recovered from the camp, with an unknown number of people still trapped under the rubble, it said, adding that Al-Awda Hospital in the area also faced shelling.
Gantz threatened that his centrist party, the Israel Resilience Party, would leave the government by June 8 if Netanyahu did not adopt a six-point plan he outlined on Saturday, which includes returning the hostages, replacing the Hamas government with a “American, European, Arab and Palestinian Administration” and normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia.
Netanyahu rejected Gantz’s claims and said the conditions would mean “a defeat for Israel,” his office said on Sunday. “Gantz chooses to issue an ultimatum to the prime minister rather than issue an ultimatum to Hamas,” the statement said, adding that the prime minister opposes “the establishment of a Palestinian state that will inevitably be a state of terror.”
Public criticism from Gantz and Gallant is deepening divisions in Netanyahu’s government, and their lack of support could force him to rely more on far-right politicians who call for Israeli rule over the strip and the establishment of settlements. Jews there.
“Benny, the delay in the war is because of you,” far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said Sunday in a statement. post on X. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called Gantz a “hypocrite and a liar” and echoed Foreign Affairs Minister Yair Lapid, who called on Gantz to leave the government.
“Get out of there,” Lapid said in a post on X Saturday.
This intense criticism highlights claims by some that he put his personal interests first. “For a long time, Netanyahu’s strategy has been to buy time for himself and this ultimatum apparently requires him to make a decision,” Rahat said.
Netanyahu has also been under increasing international pressure, including from the US, to present a plan that would oppose any invasion of Rafah.
But he insisted on continuing operations in the city, which he said is crucial to eliminating Hamas. The IDF began issuing evacuation orders for residents earlier this month.
More than 800,000 people have fled parts of the southernmost city of Gaza, where more than 1 million Palestinians have sought shelter, according to the United Nationswith another 100,000 displaced in northern Gaza.
“The areas where people are fleeing now have no drinking water supply or sanitation facilities,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement. post on X Saturday, referring to Mawassi, which is one of the areas that Israel has designated as a “safe zone.”
“People are left in the open, with few or no buildings or roads,” he said, “lacking the minimum conditions to provide emergency humanitarian assistance.”
Israel’s operation in Rafah, which has so far been limited to only certain areas, is another way for Netanyahu to buy more time, Rahat said.
“He’s been talking about Rafah for months,” Rahat said, “he doesn’t make decisions, he postpones decisions.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
