Netanyahu disbands his inner war cabinet, Israeli official says

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the six-member war cabinet, an Israeli official said on Monday, in a widely expected move that came after the departure from government of the centrist former
general Benny Gantz.

Netanyahu is now expected to hold consultations about
the Gaza war with a small group of ministers, including Defence
Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer
who had been in the war cabinet.

Netanyahu rules out Gaza ceasefire before ‘elimination’ of Hamas

The prime minister had faced demands from the nationalist-religious partners in his coalition, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, to be included in the war cabinet, a move which would have intensified strains with international partners including the United States.

The forum was formed after Gantz joined Netanyahu in a national unity government at the start of the war in October and
also included Gantz’s partner Gadi Eisenkot and Aryeh Deri, head
of the religious party Shas, as observers.

Gantz and Eisenkot both left the government last week, over
what they said was Netanyahu’s failure to form a strategy for
the Gaza war.