Jerusalem — Israeli battle cupboard minister Benny Gantz mentioned Saturday he would resign from the physique until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized a post-war plan for the Gaza Strip.
“The battle cupboard should formulate and approve by June 8 an motion plan that can result in the realisation of six strategic targets of nationwide significance.. (or) we will likely be compelled to resign from the federal government,” Gantz mentioned, referring to his occasion, in a televised handle directed at Netanyahu.
READ: Netanyahu says nothing will cease Israel from defending itself
Gantz mentioned the six targets included toppling Hamas, guaranteeing Israeli safety management over the Palestinian territory and returning Israeli hostages.
“Together with sustaining Israeli safety management, set up an American, European, Arab and Palestinian administration that can handle civilian affairs within the Gaza Strip and lay the muse for a future different that’s not Hamas or (Mahmud) Abbas,” he mentioned, referring to the president of the Palestinian Authority.
He additionally urged the normalisation of ties with Saudi Arabia “as a part of an total transfer that can create an alliance with the free world and the Arab world towards Iran and its associates”.
Netanyahu responded to Gantz’s risk on Saturday by slamming the minister’s calls for as “washed-up phrases whose which means is evident: the tip of the battle and a defeat for Israel, the abandoning of many of the hostages, leaving Hamas intact and the institution of a Palestinian state.”
The Israeli military has been battling Hamas militants throughout the Gaza Strip for greater than seven months.
READ: Israel vows to ‘intensify’ operations in Rafah
However broad splits have emerged within the Israeli battle cupboard in latest days after Hamas fighters regrouped in northern Gaza, an space the place Israel beforehand mentioned the group had been neutralised.
Netanyahu got here below private assault from Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday for failing to rule out an Israeli authorities in Gaza after the battle.
The Gaza battle broke out after Hamas’s assault on October 7 on southern Israel which resulted within the deaths of greater than 1,170 folks, principally civilians, in keeping with an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The militants additionally seized about 250 hostages, 124 of whom Israel estimates stay in Gaza, together with 37 the army says are lifeless.
Israel’s army retaliation towards Hamas has killed no less than 35,386 folks, principally civilians, in keeping with the Hamas-run Gaza’s well being ministry, and an Israeli siege has introduced dire meals shortages and the specter of famine.