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Netanyahu announces dissolution of military cabinet in wake of Gantz resignation — media

According to the Israeli Prime Minister, the creation of an emergency military cabinet "was part of the coalition agreement with Gantz at his request

TEL AVIV, June 17. /TASS/. Israel's emergency military cabinet has been dissolved after Minister Benny Gantz resigned from the government on June 9, the Ynet website reported.

According to the Israel Hayom newspaper, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a security cabinet meeting on June 16 that the creation of an emergency military cabinet "was part of the coalition agreement with Gantz at his (Gantz's - TASS) request." "After Gantz's resignation, such a framework will no longer exist," the prime minister added.

Netanyahu made the announcement in response to a request by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to include him in the emergency military cabinet following Gantz's resignation, the newspaper noted.

"The military cabinet no longer exists," Israel Hayom quoted Netanyahu's response to Ben-Gvir's request for his appointment to the body.

On June 9, Gantz announced the withdrawal of his centrist State Camp party from the unity government and suggested that Netanyahu negotiate a date for early elections in the country. Netanyahu's coalition still holds a 64-seat majority in the 120-seat Knesset (parliament) after Gantz's party withdrew from the government. On April 3, Gantz called on the government to agree to dissolve parliament so that elections could be held in the fall. On May 18, he announced his intention to resign if Netanyahu did not present a plan for a post-war settlement in the Gaza Strip by June 8.

Gantz served as defense minister from 2020 to 2022 in Israel's previous cabinet, but switched to the opposition following the results of the last election, which was won by the coalition led by Netanyahu's Likud party. Following the outbreak of hostilities in the Gaza Strip and the imposition of martial law in Israel in October 2023, Gantz supported Netanyahu's cabinet and joined as a minister without portfolio in the expanded government and the so-called military cabinet, which makes key decisions regarding the Gaza operation.