Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday dissolved the War Cabinet, which was tasked with overseeing the Gaza war.
The decision comes after former defence minister and Israel's war cabinet minister Benny Gantz quit the emergency government last week. Gantz had demanded that a small Cabinet be formed as a way to sideline far-right lawmakers in Netanyahu's government.
The war cabinet members included Gantz, Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Gantz had quit the coalition along with Gadi Eisenkot, one of the three observers in the body. Gantz had quit three weeks after laying down a deadline for Netanyahu to come up with a clear post-war strategy for Gaza. Gantz had said that if the Israel PM didn’t come up with a proper plan to bring the hostages and governance strategy of a post-war Gaza, then he would quit the government by June 8.
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According to sources, Netanyahu will be holding consultations about the ongoing war with a small group of ministers including Gallant and the strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, who had been in the war cabinet.
Meanwhile, political experts point out that the dissolution of the war cabinet is not likely to have any meaningful impact on the conflict. With the dissolution, the decision-making will move back to the security cabinet and it is likely to cause significant political issues as well.
However, with the dissolution, Netanyahu has sidelined the far-right allies in the coalition, who had been eyeing for seats in the war cabinet after Gantz's departure.
Reportedly, Netanyahu told the regular Sunday meeting of the full cabinet that “in order to reach the goal of eliminating the capabilities of Hamas, [he had] made decisions that were not always acceptable to the military echelon”, but added: “We have a country with an army and not an army with a country.”
