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Israeli Cabinet member Benny Gantz resigned from Benjamin Netanyahu's government, just weeks after threatening to withdraw over a potential ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
Gantz, the minister without portfolio, accused Netanyahu in a televised statement of “preventing us from getting closer to true victory.”
Despite his harsh criticism of the Israeli Prime Minister, he added: “Leaving the government is a complex and painful decision.”
The statement he made today was postponed after Israel announced that the Israeli army rescued four hostages from the Gaza Strip.
In May, Netanyahu publicly gave a June 8 deadline to form a clear plan the next day for what to do with the Gaza Strip once the Middle East's bloodiest conflict in decades ended.
Yesterday, Netanyahu called on Gantz not to resign, saying via a channel on the Telegram application: “We must remain united within ourselves in the face of the great tasks before us.” I call on Benny Gantz – do not leave the emergency government. Don't give up on unity.
Benny Gantz (pictured) said in a televised statement: “Leaving the government is a complex and painful decision.” Gantz, a minister without portfolio, said in a televised statement: “Leaving the government is a complex and painful decision.”
Gantz called for an international, Arab and Palestinian administration to govern the Gaza Strip, and was joined by Defense Minister Yoav Galant at the time.
Netanyahu ruled out any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, claiming that he wants to hand over power to the residents of the Strip.
He added that he ruled out any such plans until Hamas was defeated, and had long opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu said after Gantz's ultimatum in May that his political opponent's plan would amount to “a defeat for Israel, giving up most of the hostages, leaving Hamas intact and establishing a Palestinian state.”
However, Netanyahu added that he still believes the emergency government is important to the Israeli war effort, and that he “expects Gantz to make his positions clear to the public.”
Gantz, head of the Israel Resilience Party which he founded in 2018, holds only six seats out of a total of 120 seats in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.
But the Center Party has become the cornerstone of Netanyahu's already unstable coalition government, which, including the Republican Party, controls 64 seats, or just over half.
Netanyahu may now have to rely on political support from the ultra-nationalist parties still in government, whose leaders have drawn the ire of Israel's international allies with their extreme positions on what to do in the Gaza Strip.
Gantz announced he would join the war cabinet shortly after October 7, when Hamas terrorists launched a surprise incursion into Israel that killed nearly 1,200 people, most of them civilians, claiming he was putting aside political differences to help his nation.
More to follow.
