Benny Gantz has resigned from Israel’s emergency government and called for elections, criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his handling of the war against Hamas.
The departure of Gantz, Netanyahu’s rival and former general, will not cause the collapse of the ruling coalition. But it deprives the government of a moderate voice during the war that began after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, leaving Netanyahu more dependent on his right-wing coalition partners.
The prime minister and his allies control 64 of the 120 seats in Parliament.
After Gantz’s resignation, the leader of the far-right Itamar party Ben Gvir, which holds six seats in Netanyahu’s coalition, published a letter on X demanding to be added to the war cabinet in Gantz’s place.
“The time has come to make courageous decisions, to achieve true deterrence and to ensure the security of the people of Israel,” Ben Gvir wrote.
Gantz, a member of a three-person war cabinet that includes Netanyahu, told a televised news conference that the prime minister was preventing Israel from achieving a “real victory” in its war against Hamas, saying “decisions fateful strategic strategies are greeted with hesitation. and procrastination due to political considerations.
He called for elections in the fall, as Israel marks the first anniversary of the attacks, “which will lead to a true unity government.”
Netanyahu’s office had no immediate public comment.
Gantz postponed his announcement for a day, after the Israeli army freed four hostages during an operation in central Gaza. More than 270 Palestinians were killed during the operation, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
In his speech, Gantz said the military campaign would last for years and that he could not make “empty promises” guaranteeing an easy and quick victory.
He said a true victory places “hostage repatriation above political survival, combines military success with political and civil initiative”, and should involve replacing Hamas and establishing a regional alliance against Iran led by the United States and the entire Western world.
Gantz said he supported the ceasefire agreement approved by the war cabinet and “the principles of which were presented by US President Joe Biden”. “I demand that the Prime Minister muster the courage to support it and do everything in his power to promote it,” he said, promising to support such a project as head of the ‘opposition.
Three weeks ago, Gantz announcement that he would leave the war cabinet by June 8 unless Netanyahu meets a long list of demands that have not been met.
Gantz had sought to bring in a coalition of Arabs, Palestinians, Americans and Europeans to manage civil affairs in the coastal strip and bring home by September Israelis who were evacuated from the north due to ongoing fighting with Lebanese Hezbollah. He said Netanyahu must promote relations with Saudi Arabia and develop an elusive plan for the conscription of clerical men.
Gantz, a former defense minister and former chief of the Israeli army’s general staff, leads Netanyahu as future prime minister in most polls since the war began in October.
Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 250 others. Israel’s response – aimed at returning the hostages and uprooting Hamas as a military and political entity – killed some 35,000 people. Palestinians, according to Hamas officials, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
