Pressure is mounting on Benjamin Netanyahu to change course in the seven-month war on Hamas, after a key member of his war Cabinet threatened to quit on Saturday, adding to weeks of foreign criticism.
The Israeli prime minister is facing a revolt within his own three-member war Cabinet over both the tactics used in ongoing operations in Gaza and the future planning for the tiny strip of land that has become the center of a humanitarian crisis.
Former defense minister and Netanyahu rival Benny Gantz said he would give the prime minister three weeks to adopt a new plan.
“The people of Israel are watching you. You must choose between Zionism and cynicism,” he said Saturday at a news conference.
Gantz joins the current defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who publicly challenged Netanyahu on Wednesday over what he called a refusal to discuss the direction of the war. He said this reluctance to enter discussions could lead to Israeli rule over the strip, which he opposes.
“People with a military background understand that if there’s no plan, there will be an attritional war that will take years and Israel will pay a high price,” Gideon Rahat, a professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told NBC News.
Gantz’s intervention comes amid renewed doubts over the government’s strategy in the war, as the Israel Defense Forces fight Hamas in northern areas of Gaza that Israel had earlier declared clear and under control.
A friendly-fire incident on Wednesday also killed five Israeli soldiers in the Jabaliya camp during an IDF tank crossfire.
Since the IDF entered Jabaliya, more than 300 homes have been destroyed in the camp, Gaza’s civil defense said Sunday in a statement. Hundreds of dead bodies have also been recovered in the camp, with an unknown number of people still trapped under the debris, it said, adding the Al-Awda Hospital in the area was also facing shelling.
Gantz has threatened that his centrist party, the Israel Resilience Party, would quit the government by June 8 if Netanyahu does not adopt a six-point plan he spelled out Saturday, which includes the return of the hostages, replacing Hamas’ rule with an “American, European, Arab and Palestinian administration,” and normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia.
Netanyahu rejected Gantz’s claims and said the conditions would mean “a defeat of Israel,” his office said Sunday. “Gantz chooses to issue an ultimatum to the Prime Minister instead of issuing an ultimatum to Hamas,” the statement said, adding that the prime minister opposes the “establishment of a Palestinian state that will inevitably be a state of terror.”
The public criticism from Gantz and Gallant is deepening the rifts in Netanyahu’s government, and their lack of support could force him to rely more on far-right politicians who call for Israeli rule over the strip and the establishment of Jewish settlements there.
“Benny, the dragging in the war is because of you,” far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Sunday in a post on X. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called Gantz a “hypocrite and a liar,” and echoed foreign minister Yair Lapid, who called on Gantz to leave the government.
“Get out of there,” Lapid said in a post on X Saturday.
This intense criticism highlights claims from some that Netanyahu has put his personal interests first. “For a long time, Netanyahu’s strategy has been to buy time for himself, and this ultimatum apparently requires him to make a decision,” Rahat said.
Netanyahu has also come under increasing international pressure, including from the U.S., to present a plan that would avoid a full-scale invasion of Rafah.
But he has insisted on continuing operations in the city, which he said are crucial for eliminating Hamas. The IDF started issuing evacuation orders for the residents earlier this month.
More than 800,000 people fled parts of Gaza’s southernmost city, where more than 1 million Palestinians sought shelter, according to the United Nations, with another 100,000 displaced in northern Gaza.
“The areas that people are fleeing to now do not have safe water supplies or sanitation facilities,” said UNRWA’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini in a post on X Saturday, referring to Mawasi, which is one of the areas Israel has designated as a “safe zone.”
“People are left out in the open with little to no buildings or roads,” he said. “It lacks the minimal conditions to provide emergency humanitarian assistance.”
Israel’s operation in Rafah, which so far has been limited to certain areas, is another avenue for Netanyahu to buy more time, Rahat said.
“He’s been talking about Rafah for months,” Rahat said. “He doesn’t make decisions, he postpones decisions.”
