By Said Amouri
JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli War Cabinet member Benny Gantz is expected to resign from the emergency government Saturday, following the expiration of a deadline he set last month for developing a clear plan “to achieve victory” in the Gaza Strip.
According to Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, Gantz intends to submit his resignation due to the failure to formulate the specified plan.
The decision comes despite pressure from the US, which considers him a “close partner” and has urged him to remain in office.
The families of Israeli hostages in Gaza have also urged Gantz not to resign until a prisoner exchange agreement is reached with Hamas. Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s office has scheduled an expanded ministerial discussion for Sunday, just after Gantz’s self-imposed deadline, KAN added.
Gantz, who joined the government on Oct. 11, issued a stern ultimatum to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on May 18: Develop a comprehensive post-war plan for the Gaza Strip by June 8, or he will resign.
The broadcaster noted that his proposed plan encompasses several key elements: the return of hostages from Gaza, undermining Hamas’s rule, the disarmament of the Gaza Strip, establishing a European-Arab coalition to manage the region, ensuring the return of northern residents to their homes, and universal military service for all Israelis.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an attack last Oct. 7 by the Palestinian group Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire
Some 36,600 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,000 others injured, according to local health authorities
Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio