Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the War Cabinet tasked with steering the war in Gaza, Israeli officials said Monday. The move came days after a key member of the influential body resigned from his post over frustrations surrounding the Israeli leader’s handling of the war. More than 37,000 people have died in Gaza alone since the conflict first began on October 7.
Earlier this month, Benny Gantz, a centrist former military chief, departed from the government, making Netanyahu more dependent on his ultranationalist allies to govern. The dissolution of the War Cabinet underlines that shift as the eight-month-long war in Gaza drags on.
The officials, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the change with the media, said that going forward Netanyahu would hold smaller forums with some of his government members for sensitive issues surrounding the war. That includes his security Cabinet, where far-right governing partners who oppose cease-fire deals and have voiced support for reoccupying Gaza, are members.
The War Cabinet was formed in the early days of the war, when Gantz, then an opposition party leader and Netanyahu rival, joined the coalition in a show of unity following the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel. He had demanded that a small decision-making body steer the war, in a bid to sideline far-right members of Netanyahu’s government. The cabinet was made up of three members — Gantz, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant — and together they made important decisions throughout the course of the war.
This comes as Israel and Hamas are weighing the latest proposal for a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages taken by the Palestinian terror group during its attack. Israeli troops are still bogged down in the Gaza Strip, fighting in the southern city of Rafah and against pockets of Hamas resurgence elsewhere. And violence continues unabated between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group — with a Biden administration envoy in the region in a bid to avert a wider war on a second front.
