By Emmanuel Nduka
Benny Gantz, Israel’s war cabinet minister, has quit the country’s emergency government.
His exit reefs a sign of deepening divisions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s post-conflict plans for Gaza.
Making the announcement of his resignation on Sunday during a news conference in Tel Aviv, Gantz said the decision was made with a “heavy heart”.
“Unfortunately, Mr Netanyahu is preventing us from approaching true victory, which is the justification for the painful ongoing crisis,” he said.
The retired army general and frequent critic of Netanyahu also called on the prime minister to set a date for elections.
Responding on X, Netanyahu wrote: “Benny, this is not the time to quit the campaign, this is the time to join forces”.
Last month, Gantz set a deadline of June 8 for Netanyahu to lay out how Israel would achieve its six “strategic goals”, including the end of Hamas rule in Gaza and the establishment of a multinational civilian administration for the territory.
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The prime minister dismissed the comments at the time as “washed-up words” that would mean “defeat for Israel”.
Gantz, a retired army general, had been a member of Israel’s key decision-making “war cabinet”, along with the prime minister and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
During the news conference, Gantz said he is not only personally resigning from the government, but withdrawing the National Unity party he chairs, too.
However, the move will not topple the Israeli government, since Netanyahu will still hold a comfortable majority of 64 in the 120-seat Knesset, but it does lay bare the deep political divisions over how the prime minister is running the war.
