JERUSALEM: Israeli ministers on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government of “failing miserably” in the Gaza war, drawing a rebuke from his Likud party amid deepening political divisions.
Knesset member Gadi Eisenkot, an observer of the war cabinet, said Netanyahu had failed on security and the economy and called for elections by the end of the year.
The former military commander, who lost his youngest son in fighting in the Gaza Strip in December, said at the conference that Netanyahu was not telling the truth about the complexities of the Gaza war, now in its eighth month, and was misleading the public with slogans of “total victory” over Hamas.
“Those who say we will disband a few battalions in Rafah and return the hostages are creating a false illusion,” he said. “It will take three to five years for stability to be achieved. [Gaza] And it will take many more years to build an alternative to Hamas.”
He said Netanyahu had failed to deliver on key promises from his 2022 election campaign, including halting Iran’s nuclear program, formalizing diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia and strengthening the economy.
Israel launched an air and ground offensive in Gaza last October, vowing to destroy the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, but experts question whether it can do so.
In a statement to Telegram, the Likud party said Eisenkot and Netanyahu’s main rival, Israel’s war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, were looking for a pretext to quit the coalition as the conflict escalated.
“Instead of pursuing victory, they are engaged in petty politics,” Likud said.
Wednesday’s exchange was the latest spat within the coalition and raised questions about how long Israel’s wartime government can last as it tries to reconcile competing demands from its coalition members and faces global scrutiny over its wartime conduct, including from key ally the United States.
The health ministry in the blockaded Gaza Strip said more than 36,000 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, with thousands more trapped under rubble.
Gantz had warned in early May that he would pull his centre-right party out of the conservative prime minister’s expanded emergency coalition government by June 8 if Netanyahu did not provide clarity on a post-war plan for Gaza.
Gantz has helped broaden support for the government inside and outside Israel, but if he steps down, the prime minister will still have a majority in parliament with the backing of ultranationalist parties that angered Washington before the war and have called for annexation of Gaza and settlements since it.
Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced, creating a humanitarian disaster, with aid groups reporting widespread malnutrition and a collapsing health system.
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The war began on Oct. 7 after Hamas-led fighters attacked communities in southern Israel demanding an end to the Israeli occupation, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to an Israeli tally. About 120 hostages remain in Gaza.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and without any editorial review.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed (Reuters))
First revealed: 30 May 2024 00:00 IST
