Netanyahu dissolves Israel-Hamas war cabinet following Benny Gantz departure

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved his six-member war cabinet on Monday following the departure of former general Benny Gantz, officials said. 

“The cabinet was in the coalition agreement with Gantz at his request,” Netanyahu reminded his security cabinet on Sunday, according to The Jerusalem Post. 

“As soon as Gantz left – there was no need for a cabinet anymore.”

With the cabinet now dissolved, Netanyahu will now depend on a small group of ministers to help guide the war.

The members include former war cabinet officials Yoav Gallant, the minister of defense, and Ron Dermer, the minister of strategic affairs.

The war cabinet had served as Israel’s principal decision-making body to help unite the nation and navigate the war against Hamas terrorists following the Oct. 7 massacre.

Gantz, the former opposition party leader and Netanyahu rival, had demanded the formation of the war cabinet at the start of the war.   

Gantz, however, left the emergency government last week and was joined by Gadi Eisenkot, who served as an observer on the cabinet. 

The officials said they were quitting over the prime minister’s alleged failures in handling the Gaza war, which has gone on for more than eight months. 

Netanyahu’s decision to dissolve the war council also came amid demands from firebrand National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to be included in the emergency government. 

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, another nationalist-religious partner in Netanyahu’s coalition, had also demanded to join, a move that would have likely strained Israel’s relationship with the US and other international partners. 

With Post wires