Resistance against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is growing in Israel (Picture: Getty Images)
Israel’s war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has resigned over clashes with Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr Gantz said Netanyahu is making ‘total victory impossible’ over Hamas and that the government needs to put the return of the hostages seized on October 7 by the group ‘above political survival’.
He said he was leaving ‘with a heavy heart but with full confidence’.
But Netanyahu responded by saying ‘this is not time to abandon the front’.
Tensions between the two figures have been brewing over recent days after Mr Gantz gave Netanyahu a June 8 deadline to present a clear plan for the conflict in Gaza.
He was originally expected to announce his resignation on Saturday but pushed it back following the announcement of the release of four Israeli hostages.
Mr Gantz was a centrist member of the war cabinet having joined following Hamas’ attack against Israel.
The move means Netanyahu will now rely on more right-wing elements within the government and the change means he still controls a majority coalition in parliament.
Benny Gantz was seen as a centrist in the war cabinet and established good relations with the US and the West (Picture: Getty Images)
But there are risks this will alienate the US and the west further from Israel’s side after nationalist leaders in Israel called for a return to a complete Israeli occupation of Gaza.
On the other hand, Mr Gantz’s presence boosted Israel’s credibility with its international partners.
He established good working relations with US officials.
The news comes after Israel continued its assault on central Gaza after Hamas claimed 274 Palestinians died in a special forces mission that rescued the four hostages.
Benjamin Netanyahu said ‘this is not time to abandon the front’ (Picture: AP)
Pictures have emerged of bodies covered in sheets lining the streets, others being wheeled on stretchers or carried by their loved ones, and a boy drenched in blood.
Abdel Salam Darwish was buying vegetables in a market when he heard fighter jets overhead, along with the sound of gunfire.
He told the BBC: ‘Afterwards, people’s bodies were in pieces, scattered in the streets, and blood stained the walls.’
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