Netanyahu disbands his war Cabinet

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the six-member war Cabinet, an Israeli official said.

TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the six-member war Cabinet, an Israeli official said Monday, in a widely expected move after one of his key rivals, the centrist former general Benny Gantz, quit the emergency government. 

Netanyahu informed ministers that he will hold sensitive consultations in a smaller forum dubbed, “the kitchen cabinet,” the official said.    

Netanyahu had faced demands from ultranationalist ministers in his coalition, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, to be included in the war Cabinet, a move that would have intensified strains with international partners, including the U.S.

The forum was formed after Gantz joined Netanyahu in a national unity government at the start of the war after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. It also included Gantz’s partner Gadi Eisenkot and Aryeh Deri, head of the religious party Shas, as observers.

Gantz and Eisenkot left the government last week over what they said was Netanyahu’s failure to form a strategy for the war, now in its eighth month.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-war-netanyahu-disbands-war-cabinet-rcna157460

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