Benjamin Netanyahu dissolves war cabinet amid row with army

Benjamin Netanyahu has formally disbanded his war cabinet after the former general Benny Gantz resigned over the failure to form a Gaza war strategy.

The war cabinet was formed after Mr Gantz, the centrist opposition leader and former army chief, joined the prime minister in a national unity government when the war started in response to the Oct 7 terror attacks.

It also included Mr Gantz’s political partner, Gadi Eisenkot, and Aryeh Deri, head of the religious party Shas, as observers.

Mr Gantz and Mr Eisenkot both left the government last week after setting an ultimatum for the prime minister to clarify his strategy for post-war Gaza.

The disbanding of the cabinet leaves Mr Netanyahu further isolated as he faces internal revolts, anti-war protests and a row with his armed forces.

The move to dissolve the body was a strategy to block requests by hard-Right coalition partners, including the finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and the national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, to join it, local media said.

The inclusion of the two ministers in a core group steering the war – when they have made clear their intention to prolong the conflict in Gaza – would have deepened tensions with international partners, including the United States, which is pushing for a ceasefire deal with Hamas.

Prime minister clashes with military over aid

A decision by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Sunday to instigate a humanitarian pause to allow aid deliveries to travel a road in the southern Gaza Strip has also highlighted the rift.

Mr Netanyahu himself criticised plans announced by the military to hold daily tactical pauses.

His hardline national security minister described the policy as “crazy and delusional”, in a statement that said whoever gave the order was a “fool who should not remain in his position”.

Mr Gantz announced his resignation last week. In a televised address, he said it was a “very difficult decision” to leave the government during the current crisis, but that Mr Netanyahu was “preventing us from moving toward true victory”.

His resignation does not endanger Mr Netanyahu’s parliamentary majority of 64 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, but by withdrawing his party from the coalition, Mr Gantz has left the prime minister more isolated and his coalition more reliant on hard-Right partners.

With the war cabinet now dissolved, Mr Netanyahu is expected instead to hold consultations about the war with a small group of ministers, including Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, who has also been critical of war planning and who opposes the contentious issue of a military service exemption for ultra-Orthodox young men.

The prime minister and defence chief will seek final approval on the core group’s decisions from the wider security cabinet.

The termination of the war cabinet was expected. An official from the prime minister’s office explained that the arrangement was no longer relevant as the emergency unity government had come to an end.

It comes at a time when Mr Netanyahu is also facing a row with his armed forces over his own criticism of the military’s decision to hold daily tactical pauses in fighting to facilitate aid delivery to Gaza.

“When the prime minister heard the reports of an eleventh-hour humanitarian pause in the morning, he turned to his military secretary and made it clear that this was unacceptable to him,” an Israeli official said.

Aid groups gave a cautious welcome to the IDF’s decision, saying it could help relieve “catastrophic hunger” that had become widespread in Gaza, but added that the effects would be limited unless security improved and more aid routes opened up.

Following the government’s objections, the military clarified that “there is no suspension of fighting” in the southern Gaza Strip and that the fighting in Rafah would continue.