Israeli Defense Minister Gallant challenges Prime Minister Netanyahu for his failure to address the post-war plan for Gaza.
Divisions within Israel’s war cabinet over the lack of post-war plans for the Gaza Strip have erupted in a rare public row, with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant saying the country should not be involved in the management of the besieged and bombarded territory once the fighting is over.
On Wednesday, Gallant said he was opposed to Israeli military control or responsibility for governing Gaza.
“I must reiterate…I will not accept the establishment of Israeli military rule in Gaza. Israel must not establish civilian rule in Gaza,” he told a news conference.
Since the current conflict began in October, Gallant said he had “raised this issue consistently within the cabinet and received no response,” chastising Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and calling on him to “take a decision “.
Netanyahu, who has indicated that Israel intends to maintain unlimited control over security affairs in the enclave, responded to Gallant’s call by saying he was not “ready to trade Hamastan against Fatahstan. He has previously said that talk of the “aftermath” of the war was a moot point because the conflict would only end with the complete defeat of Hamas, the group that has ruled Gaza since 2007.
Benny Gantz, another member of the war cabinet, spoke out in support of Gallant, saying he was telling the truth and that it was the responsibility of leaders to do the right thing for the country at all costs .
“All of this really shows growing divisions among members of the war cabinet at a very critical time,” said Tel Aviv Tribune’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Amman, Jordan, following the Israeli ban on the network. .
Far-right ministers took aim at Gallant, whose statement placed him in the crosshairs of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
“The Minister of Defense who failed on October 7 and continues to fail today. Such a defense minister must be replaced in order to achieve the goals of the war,” Ben-Gvir said in an X post.
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Fracture between the United States and Israel
Although he has promised to crush Hamas, Netanyahu has not expressed a clear vision of an alternative to the group after the war. Today, as the Israeli army intensifies its all-out offensive into the territory, sending 600,000 people fleeing southern Rafah, pressure is growing from critics at home and its allies abroad – including the United States – to present a governance, security and safety plan. reconstruction.
Disagreements over the future of Gaza have led to growing public friction between Israel and the United States. Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken chastised Israel for the lack of a plan in some of his most vocal public criticisms. Jamjoom said the latest developments portended “a greater divide in relations between the United States and Israel.”
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the Netanyahu administration had “lost control.”
“Relations with the United States are collapsing, the middle class is collapsing,” he said. “Soldiers are being killed every day in Gaza and they are fighting among themselves on television. The furniture is dismantled and non-functional. Ministers demonstrate outside cabinet meetings.
As of Monday, 272 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 1,674 injured in Gaza and along the border with the Palestinian territory since the start of the war. On Thursday, the Israeli military said five soldiers were killed in northern Gaza, attributing it to “friendly fire.”
It said in a statement that seven soldiers were injured in Wednesday’s incident. According to a preliminary investigation, two Israeli tanks in the area opened fire on a house used by the deputy commander of the Israeli battalion, the army said.
The head of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, said Wednesday in response to the debate over the future of Gaza after the war that “the Hamas movement is here to stay.”