Netanyahu 'not qualified to lead' Israel: Opposition leader

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is not qualified to lead the country,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said Monday.

In a statement on X, Lapid urged Israeli opposition lawmakers, including former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, a member of Israel's current war council, to leave the ruling coalition.

“This is not a unity government, this is not an emergency government. They are not saving the State of Israel, they are saving Netanyahu," Lapid added.

The opposition leader said the 24 lawmakers of his Yesh Atid [There is Future] Party will support any move to change the current Israeli government.

Calls have grown for holding fresh elections in Israel amid criticism of Netanyahu over his failure to acknowledge responsibility for a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

Opinion polls conducted by Israeli media in the past few days suggested that if early elections were held now, Netanyahu would be unable to form a government, while Gantz is considered the most likely to succeed.

Israel has launched air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, killing at least 23,084 Palestinians and injuring 58,926 others, according to Gaza’s health authorities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicines.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar