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Disagreements in Israel’s war cabinet put success of Gaza operation at risk — paper

According to the report, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and former head of the Israeli military Benny Gantz, who now heads an opposition block, disagree on two key issues

NEW YORK, January 17. /TASS/. Serious disagreements in Israel’s war cabinet are spilling into public view, putting at risk the success of the country’s military operation in the Gaza Strip, the Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the report, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and former head of the Israeli military Benny Gantz, who now heads an opposition block, disagree on two key issues. The first one is whether Israel should negotiate the release of hostages and a solution to the conflict, the second - who should govern Gaza after the hostilities are over.

According to the newspaper, these rifts deepened due to pressure from Washington, which demands that Israel avoids civilian casualties, and also due to the fact that the Israeli government has so far been unable to secure the release of all hostages.

Specifically, Ganz favors negotiations with Hamas in order to free about 130 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas, while Netanyahu and Gallant are convinced that only military pressure can force the Palestinian movement into concessions.

Israel claims that its forces had killed thousands of Hamas militants, depriving it of the capacity to attack, but the Jewish state has not yet reached its main objective, which is total elimination of Hamas, The Wall Street Journal said.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.