Israel: Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved his war cabinet, according to an Israeli official

This is a strong choice. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved his war cabinet, an Israeli official told Reuters and AFP on Monday. This decision came, in particular, a week after the resignation of Benny Gantz, a member of this cabinet, while far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded to be allowed to join this reduced cabinet.

According to the Jerusalem Post, there will be no new war cabinet. “When (Gadi) Eisenkot and (Benny) Gantz entered the government, it was on the condition that they form a war cabinet,” sources close to the matter emphasized. “Now that they are gone, there is no longer a need for it. This means that the security cabinet, which is already the body responsible for making decisions, will meet more often,” these sources emphasized.

War Control Room

Gadi Eizenko, also a member of the military cabinet, also left the government at the same time as Benny Gantz. This cabinet was created on October 11 to manage the wars in Gaza against Hamas and on the Israeli-Lebanese border with Hezbollah, the Times of Israel recalls.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the dissolution of the war cabinet, saying the security cabinet would make “decisions on issues related to the war.” The Security Cabinet, which includes Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tsachi Hanegbi, is the main decision-making body regarding the war against Hamas.

The announcement came a day after the Israeli army announced a pause in the war “from 8:00 to 19:00.” (local) every day until further notice” on a roughly ten-kilometre stretch of road that stretches from the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip to the European hospital in Rafah further north.

However, an Israeli official reminded AFP this Monday that “there has been no change in Israeli army policy,” especially in Rafah (south), where it launched a ground operation in early May, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee. . The army said in a statement that it remained active in Rafah and the central Gaza Strip and was engaged in “close combat” with Palestinian militants, several of whom were killed.

Doctors at a Baptist hospital in northern Gaza City reported five dead and several wounded in two airstrikes. Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal told AFP that the Israeli army carried out two overnight strikes on an apartment and a house, “as a result of which the martyrs, including a child and an elderly man, were transferred to Batista Hospital.” “The rest of the Gaza Strip is relatively calm,” he added.