Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival, Benny Gantz, announced on Sunday that he is leaving the war cabinet after a post-war plan for the Palestinian enclave failed to materialize.
Gantz’s resignation comes amid global condemnation of the Palestinian civilian death toll in the war in Gaza, which has increased domestic and international pressure on Netanyahu.
Gantz announced his resignation in a televised event on Sunday, saying Netanyahu was on Israel’s path to “a real victory.”
“That’s why we emerge from emergency government today with a heavy heart, but with a whole heart,” Gantz said.
Netanyahu addressed Gantz in an X post after his resignation, saying: “this is not the time to abandon the campaign – this is the time to join forces.”
“Citizens of Israel, we will continue until victory and the achievement of all the objectives of the war, especially the release of all our hostages and the elimination of Hamas,” Netanyahu wrote.
During his resignation speech, Gantz said there should be elections this fall “that will ultimately establish a government that will earn the trust of the people and be capable of meeting challenges.”
“I appeal to Netanyahu: set an agreed election date. Don’t let our people be torn apart,” Gantz said.
In May, Gantz demanded that Netanyahu agree to a day-ahead plan for the war in Gaza and threatened to withdraw his National Unity party from the coalition on June 8 unless the prime minister had a plan for governing the enclave. in the post-war period.
Netanyahu missed Gantz’s deadline after distancing himself from President Joe Biden’s ceasefire agreement, presented last month as an Israeli proposal.
On Saturday, Netanyahu called on Gantz to remain in the coalition, saying in a post on X“This is the time for unity and not division.”
Widespread condemnation of the civilian death toll in the war in Gaza has increased in recent weeks after dozens of people were killed in Rafah, in an area where displaced civilians were sheltering in tents. On Saturday, an Israeli attack on central Gaza that rescued four hostages also killed more than 270 Palestinians, raising the death toll in Gaza to more than 37,000 since the start of the war last October, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
A top UN court has already ordered Israel to halt its offensive on Rafah, and the latest round of civilian casualties, including two attacks on UN-run schools in the Nuseirat and Shati refugee camps, will only deepen hostilities between Israel and Israel.
The UN has added Israel and Hamas to a global blacklist of states and armed groups that harm children during war. Last month, the UN said that at least 7,797 children had been killed in Gaza. Netanyahu criticized the decision, saying the UN “added itself to the blacklist of history when it joined those who support the Hamas killers” and repeated his claim that the Israeli military was the “most moral army in the world”.
In May, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said he was seeking arrest warrants for both Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders.
Gantz apologized to the hostages’ families during his speech Sunday, saying we “failed” to bring most of them home.
“It’s my responsibility too,” Gantz said. “I support the draft we received in the War Cabinet, the principles of which were presented by President Biden, and I demand from the Prime Minister the necessary courage to support it and do everything to promote it.”
While Netanyahu’s government may survive if Gantz resigns, Netanyahu will be further isolated in Israel and forced to rely on the support of far-right members of his government, leaving hopes for Biden’s proposal hanging by a thread.
Bezalel Smotrich, finance minister and chairman of the far-right Religious Zionist Party, said in X Last week, he “would not be part of a government that would agree to the proposed outline and end the war without destroying Hamas.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir, national security minister and leader of the far-right Jewish Power Party, called the proposal “a victory for terrorism” that would mean “absolute defeat” and threatened in X “dissolve the government” if Netanyahu agrees to the proposal.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
