Protesters demanding new elections in Israel clashed with police near the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem on Monday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved his government’s war cabinet and made himself the undisputed decision-maker in the eight-month Gaza conflict.
Police said nine people were arrested for attacking police and that the demonstrations, which they declared unlawful, were dispersed with water cannons. Reuters reported that thousands of demonstrators marched from the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, to Netanyahu’s home, and some tried to break through barricades but were pushed back by police.
Netanyahu, who returned to power in 2022 leading a right-wing coalition, dissolved his war cabinet a week after centrist opposition leader Benny Gantz resigned, accusing him of failing to reveal a post-war plan for Gaza. Gantz also criticized the prime minister for not prioritizing negotiations for the release of more than 100 hostages still being held by Hamas-led militants in Gaza.
A war cabinet including Netanyahu, Gantz and current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was formed in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack as a show of unity in the government. Netanyahu aide Ron Dermer and Gantz ally Gadi Eisenkot, a former general who also resigned, served as observers.
Disbanding the coalition would allow Netanyahu to block far-right leaders from demanding they be included in the war effort after Gantz steps down, a move the United States would likely oppose. Right-wing figures like National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir have called for the eradication of Hamas above all else.
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Netanyahu and Gallant, who have been at odds over a post-war plan for Gaza, will instead hold smaller-scale consultations with officials ahead of any major decisions on the war.
Developmental status:
The Biden administration has persuaded two key Democrats, Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland and Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, to drop their opposition to a major arms sale to Israel, including 50 F-15 fighter jets worth more than $18 billion, The Washington Post reported Monday.
The Gaza Government Media Office accused the US and Israel of using “starvation crimes” to achieve political aims. It said tens of thousands of sick and injured people had no access to food or medicine and hunger was widespread as humanitarian aid barely reached them.
U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein will meet with Netanyahu on Monday and is also due to meet with Israeli President Isak Herzog, opposition leader Yair Lapid and Gantz. Hochstein is seeking to ease tensions between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants.
Reuters reported on Monday that eight people were killed in an Israeli attack along a commercial truck corridor in eastern Gaza where traders and security forces were waiting, citing a Gaza health official.
The University of Michigan and the City University of New York have pledged to take action after failing to act on recent incidents of anti-Semitic, anti-Palestinian and anti-Arabism on their campuses, the U.S. Department of Education said Monday.
Israel suspends military activities:Aimed at facilitating aid to Gaza
Israel and Hezbollah on the brink of escalating conflict
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday they had killed a senior Hezbollah operative and attacked buildings and other infrastructure used by the Iran-backed militant group in southern Lebanon, escalating a months-long cross-border standoff between the two countries to dangerous levels.
Israeli military spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said the escalating firefight was “on the brink of a broader escalation of tensions that could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region.”
The United States is working to prevent the war in Gaza from escalating, and the White House national security spokesman on Monday reiterated the administration’s concern about Israel having to deal with a second front.
Most Israelis support ceasefire plan
A survey by the Jewish Policy Institute found that about 60% of Israelis want their government to accept the ceasefire plan announced by President Joe Biden, though neither side has announced their full acceptance of the plan.
However, a quarter of Jewish Israelis and a majority of Arab Israelis see Biden’s proposal as a good thing, with a further third saying it has “problems” but is acceptable because there are no better options. A third of Israelis and four in ten Jewish Israelis think Biden’s plan should be rejected. Other poll results include:
Many Jewish Israelis do not support Israeli civilian rule in Gaza after the war, but most want Israel to maintain security control over Gaza. This may not be the case for the full “two-state solution” that the Biden administration and much of the world are calling for.
About a quarter of Israelis have a high degree of trust in their government, but about three-quarters do not.
Some 36% of Israelis advocate an immediate all-out attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon, while 26% want to wait until the end of the Gaza war, and another 30% want a political solution.
Israel claims to have destroyed half of Hamas forces in Rafah
The Israeli army said on Monday it had taken more than 60 percent of the southern Gaza city of Rafah and was on track to take full control within two weeks. It claimed to have destroyed about half of Hamas’ fighting forces in the city, believed to be the militant group’s last major stronghold.
The Israeli military said it had killed at least 550 militants in the area, losing 22 soldiers. The army also said it had discovered numerous tunnels leading to Egypt, some of which Hamas had been using to smuggle weapons, and had eliminated Hamas’ last major stockpile of rockets.
Confusion grows over promise of ‘pause’ in fighting
A UN official said Monday that Israeli forces have not met promises of a daily pause in fighting along Gaza’s main roads, a pause that drew criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. UN Relief Mission chief Philippe Lazzarini said fighting in the Rafah area and southern Gaza was continuing unhindered, despite announcing a “tactical pause” of several hours each day to allow the flow of humanitarian aid.
The IDF said it would continue operations in southern and central Gaza.
Lazzarini said the department was notified of the suspension, but the government refuted the directive shortly thereafter.
“Right now, we don’t see anything that meets the definition of a suspension,” he said. “Operationally, nothing has changed.”
The Palestinian Authority could collapse this summer
The Palestinian Authority, the government entity Biden expects to govern the Gaza Strip after the war, could collapse in the coming months, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Baas Eide said on Monday. The Palestinian Authority controls parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but is struggling to stay solvent as Israel withholds hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes it accuses of funding Hamas members and their families.
Baas-Eide cited a lack of funding, ongoing violence and an Israeli employment crackdown that has barred an estimated 500,000 Palestinians in the West Bank from working in Israel.
“The situation is extremely serious,” Bas-Eide told Reuters. “If (the authorities) collapse, we risk a second Gaza, which would be disastrous for everyone, including Israelis.”
War wipes out generations of Palestinian families
An Associated Press investigation has found that at least 60 Palestinian families were killed in bombings across Gaza from October to December, during the war’s deadliest and most destructive period, leaving more than 25 people dead – in some cases spanning four generations of the same bloodline.
Nearly a quarter of these families lost more than 50 family members, and some families have few people left to record the casualties, especially as recording and sharing information has become difficult.
Yousef Salem spent months filling out the spreadsheet as family members were confirmed dead. He said he wanted to preserve the last links in his network of relationships.
“My uncles were completely wiped out,” Salem said, “including the heads of their households, their wives, their children and grandchildren.”
Article contributed by Reuters
