Benny Gantz’s six-point plan includes a demand to “dismantle the rule of Hamas, to demilitarize the Gaza strip, and to ensure Israeli security control.”
Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz has threatened to withdraw from the coalition government, demanding a post-war action plan by June 8.
“In order for us to be able to fight shoulder to shoulder, the war cabinet must formulate an action plan by June 8 that will lead to the attainment of six strategic goals of national importance,” Gantz said at a press conference on Saturday, according to the Israeli Globes news site.
Gantz and his National Unity party joined Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “unconditionally” after the October 7 resistance operation, the report said.
‘Rightfully Criticized’ – Trump Says Netanyahu Deserves Blame for October 7
The war cabinet, the report said, “must formulate an action plan that will lead to the attainment of six strategic goals of national importance.”
These include:
“To bring the hostages home”; “To dismantle the rule of Hamas, to demilitarize the Gaza Strip, and to ensure Israeli security control”; “Alongside Israeli security control, to form a US-European-Arab-Palestinian administration that will run civilian affairs in the Gaza Strip and lay a foundation for a future alternative that Is not Hamas and not Abbas (Palestinian Authority chairperson Mahmoud Abbas); “To return the resident of the north to their homes by September 1 and rehabilitate the Western Negev”; “To advance normalization with Saudi Arabia as part of a general move to create an alliance with the free world and with the Arab world against Iran”; and “To adopt a plan for service that will lead to all Israelis serving the country and contributing to the supreme national effort.”
#TelAviv tonight: Tens of thousands are back on the streets calling for Netanyahu's ouster.
▪️ Rallies held as War Cabinet Min Gantz issues an ultimatum to Netanyahu.
▪️ For the 1st time, Opposition Leader Lapid speaks at Tel Aviv rally. pic.twitter.com/iPvNvezHNz
— Yonatan Touval (@Yonatan_Touval) May 18, 2024
‘Lead Nation to Abyss’
Gantz also reportedly said in a message to Netanyahu: “If you put the national interest ahead of personal interests and choose to walk in the path of Herzl, Ben Gurion, Begin and Rabin, you will find in us partners in the struggle. But if you choose to walk in the path of zealots and lead the entire nation to the abyss, we will be compelled to leave the government.”
He stressed, “We will turn to the people, and form a government that wins the people’s confidence. We will form a government based on broad unity that will lead to repair and true victory.”
Last week Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant reportedly said that he would not agree to Israeli military rule in the Gaza Strip.
Two of the three war cabinet ministers are now openly questioning PM Netanyahu's war strategy.
Gantz says "crucial decisions were not made. The acts of leadership needed to guarantee victory were not done." https://t.co/r1aeyFneCk
— Margaret Brennan (@margbrennan) May 18, 2024
“That is a dangerous and bad alternative for Israel,” Gallant said, according to the Globes report. “Military action has as its end diplomatic action.”
“This is a moment of a national test, even if it involves a political price,” he reportedly added.
The Anadolu news agency reported that Netanyahu’s office said in response that Gantz’s demands would mean “an end to the war and defeat for Israel, abandoning the majority of the hostages, leaving Hamas in power, and creating a Palestinian state.”
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is determined to eliminate the Hamas battalions,” it said, “He opposes bringing the Palestinian Authority into Gaza, and establishing a Palestinian state that will inevitably be a terror state.”
Over 35,000 Killed
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 35,386 Palestinians have been killed, and 79,366 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(PC, Anadolu)
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