James McKenzie
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed his six-member war cabinet, an Israeli official said on Monday, a move widely seen following the departure of centrist former general Benny Gantz from the government. expected move.
Netanyahu is now expected to consult on the Gaza war with a small group of ministers, including Defense Minister Yoav Galante and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Demer, who served in the wartime cabinet.
The move was announced as U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein visited Jerusalem to calm the disputed border situation with Lebanon. Widespread conflict.
The Israeli military said on Monday that it killed a senior Hezbollah operative in a rocket and missile unit in the Serra region of southern Lebanon.
The military also said operations in the southern Gaza Strip were continuing, and its forces had been fighting Hamas militants in the Tel Sultan area west of Rafah and in the heart of the enclave.
Hochstein’s visit comes after weeks of fighting between Israel and Lebanon.
Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the so-called “Blue Line” between the two countries have been evacuated, leaving a desolate area of abandoned villages and farms under near-daily bombardment.
“The current situation is an unsustainable reality,” government spokesman David Menser told a news conference.
Netanyahu faces demands from his nationalist religious partners in the coalition, Finance Minister Bezarel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, to be included in the war cabinet. The move will heighten tensions with international partners, including the United States.
The forum was formed after Gantz formed a national unity government with Netanyahu at the start of the Gaza war in October. Gantz’s political partner Gadi Eisenkot and religious party Shas leader Aryeh Deri also attended as observers.
Gantz and Eisenkot both left the government last week, saying Netanyahu failed to develop a strategy for the Gaza war.
protest
An agreement to halt the fighting in Gaza remains remote since an October 7 attack on Israel led by Hamas militants triggered an Israeli military assault on the Palestinian enclave.
According to Israeli statistics, the attack on October 7 left about 1,200 people dead and about 250 people taken hostage. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians and destroyed much of Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Although polls show a majority of Israelis support the government’s goal of destroying Hamas, there have been widespread protests attacking the government for not doing more to bring home the approximately 120 hostages still being held in Gaza.
On Monday, the second day of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr celebrations, the northern border region was relatively quiet compared with previous days, when rockets ignited massive bush fires in heatwave conditions.
A survey by the Jewish Institute for National Policy Research, a Jerusalem-based think tank, found that 36% of respondents favored an immediate attack on Hezbollah, up from 26% a month ago.
The Alma Institute, an Israeli think tank focused on the northern border, in May carried out the highest-level attack on Israel since hostilities broke out last October.
Israeli aircraft and artillery attacks in southern Lebanon intensified last week when a senior Hezbollah commander was killed in an attack on a command and control center.
In addition to missile and anti-tank rocket attacks, drone attacks have also increased significantly, underscoring the strength of Hezbollah’s arsenal since the last major conflict between the two sides in 2006.
