ISRAELI war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has quit the emergency government in a row over Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans for Gaza.
Gantz said leaving his post was a “complex and painful decision” to make but Netanyahu was “preventing real victory” over Hamas.
Last month he gave the Israeli Prime Minister a deadline of June 8 to present a clear day-after plan for the conflict in Gaza.
Announcing his resignation on Sunday, June 9, Gantz also called on Netanyahu to set an election date.
Netanyahu replied to Gantz saying “this is not time to abandon the front”.
Gantz had been a member of Israel's key decision-making war cabinet, which besides the prime minister, the only other remaining member with decision-making power is Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
His decision comes as Netanyahu faces growing calls from Israel’s Western allies and families of hostages held in Gaza to end the war.
With the war cabinet minister's resignation Netanyahu's governing coalition, which controls 64 of parliament's 120 seats, be seriously impacted.
The Israeli Prime Minister is set to lose the backing of a centrist bloc with Gantz's departure which has been important in broadening support for the Israeli government abroad.
Now Netanyahu will most likely have to rely on the backing of ultra-nationalist parties, whose leaders have already angered Washington, and have called for a complete Israeli occupation of Gaza.
Gantz's resignation follows the deadly attacks yesterday, June 8, which at least 274 Palestinians, including dozens of children, were killed and hundreds more were wounded in an Israeli raid according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Israel said they rescued four hostages held by Hamas during the riad as one witness, Mohamed al-Habash, told The Associated Press the bombing was like “hell”.
He said: “We saw many fighter jets flying over the area. We saw people fleeing in the streets. Women and children were screaming and crying.”
Saturday’s events also affected fragile attempts to deliver humanitarian aid.
The World Food Programme (WFP) chief said they suspended distribution around a US-built pier off Gaza because “two of our warehouses, warehouse complex, were rocketed yesterday”.
When asked how it happened and whether the WFP shares its locations with Israel’s military, Cindy McCain said they did and “I don’t know. It’s a good question”.
It was not clear if she was referring to the rescue operation.
In Gaza, medics described scenes of chaos after the raid.
Overwhelmed hospitals were already struggling to treat the wounded from days of heavy Israeli strikes in the area.
“We had the gamut of war wounds, trauma wounds, from amputations to eviscerations to trauma, to TBIs (traumatic brain injuries), fractures and, obviously, big burns,” said Karin Huster of Doctors Without Borders, an international charity working in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
“Kids completely grey or white from the shock, burnt, screaming for their parents. Many of them are not screaming because they are in shock.”
More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, according to reports.
