Political tension in Israel due to the country’s conduct war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip became visible to the public again on Monday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved an influential group that, since Hamas launched its terrorist attack on October 7 and triggered the war, has helped define Israel’s war policy.
Netanyahu dissolved the war cabinet, a coalition of political rivals created after the Hamas attack to sow and show unity at the highest level of the Israeli government during the conflict.
That unity collapsed last week when Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s main moderate opponent, resigned from his position in the government and war cabinet over what he said was a failure to present any plan for governing Gaza after the war.
The now-disbanded war cabinet was also formed to bypass some far-right ministers in the broader cabinet, and many people inside and outside Israel feared that Netanyahu would lean toward the far right in the wake of Gantz’s move. Netanyahu formed his current coalition government – that of Israel far-right cabinet ever — with members of far-right Israeli parties remaining in key positions, and these numbers are the basis of their continued ability to govern effectively and even keep their jobs.
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Officials from Netanyahu’s Likud party said on Monday that the prime minister was forming a new small group with whom to consult on wartime decisions. Sources indicated that far-right government ministers would not yet participate in the day-to-day management of the war, but key political decisions related to the conflict would still be taken by the broader Israeli security cabinet, which includes the far-right. right members.
The change at the top came one day after Israel announced a “tactical pause” in fighting along an approximately 12 kilometer stretch of road in the Rafah area. The pause will take effect during the day, and only on that specific road near the southern city of Gaza, which has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks as Israel pursues what it says are Hamas’ few remaining combat units in the Palestinian enclave.
The Israel Defense Forces said the pause was intended to allow more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza through the vital Rafah border crossing with Egypt and then be distributed by the United Nations and other organizations further north in the territory.
After the military announced the plan, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement stressing that combat operations against Hamas would continue in the city of Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza.
The war has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run enclave’s Health Ministry, and the bloodshed continued on Monday as Muslims around the world marked the Eid al-Adha holiday. . It was a holy day for thousands of families displaced from Gaza, including one who spoke to the CBS News Gaza team as they took refuge in a stable.
“Our hearts break when we hear about people eating Eid sweets,” the grandmother told our team. “We don’t even have shoes. I couldn’t take anything with me except my disabled daughter and my newborn grandson. I feel paralyzed, like I’m dead.”
The Biden administration and Israel accuse Hamas of stalling a deal to secure the release of more than 70 hostages still held alive in Gaza, along with the remains of about 30 others, in exchange for a ceasefire. Hamas, the US said last week, has demanded a series of changes to the current draft proposal offered, some of which Secretary of State Antony Blinken said were not acceptable.
If the newly announced daily pause in fighting along the main road through southern Gaza continues, it could at least help address some of the overwhelming humanitarian needs of the people of the Palestinian territory as Israeli forces continue to pursue the remaining Hamas brigades in Rafah.
But the fighting around that road in Rafah looked set to continue. Eight Israeli soldiers were killed over the weekend when his armored vehicle was hit by an explosion in the area.
Meanwhile, in central Gaza, nine people were killed on Sunday night when a house was hit by Israeli fire. The tactical pause does not apply there and the fight continues.
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