Netanyahu dissolved his War Cabinet and there was a massive protest in front of his house

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the so-called six-member War Cabinet, a senior Israeli government official said Monday, a decision that was expected after the departure of former centrist general Benny Gantz from the government. Netanyahu is expected to hold consultations on the war in the Gaza Strip from now on with a small group of ministers, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who had been part of the aforementioned cabinet. special.

The move was announced as US special envoy Amos Hochstein visited Jerusalem, trying to calm the situation on the disputed border with Lebanon, where Israel said clashes with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia were pushing the region to a broader conflict. Precisely, in parallel, the Israeli army reported that it had killed a senior operative of one of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile sections in the Selaa area, in southern Lebanon.

The army also stated that its operations were continuing in the southern Gaza Strip, where its forces have been fighting Hamas fighters in the Tel Sultan area, west of Rafah, as well as in central areas of the enclave. Hochstein arrives after weeks of increasing exchanges of fire on the line separating Israel from Lebanon, where Israeli forces have been engaged for months in a simmering conflict with Hezbollah that has continued in parallel with the offensive in Gaza.

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes on both sides of the so-called Blue Line, which divides both countries, leaving eerily deserted areas of abandoned villages and farms hit by almost daily bombings. “The current state of affairs is not a sustainable reality,” government spokesman David Mencer said at a briefing.

Netanyahu had faced demands from his coalition’s nationalist-religious partners, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, to be included in the war cabinet, a move that would aggravate tension with international partners, including the United States. The War Cabinet was formed after Gantz joined Netanyahu in a national unity government at the start of the war in October 2023, including as observers Gadi Eisenkot (Gantz’s political partner) and Aryeh Deri, head of the party. religious Shas. Gantz and Eisenkot left the government last week, over what they viewed as Netanyahu’s failure to form a strategy for the Gaza war.

Police detained eight protesters in front of the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the city of Jerusalem, local media reported. According to the authorities, the protesters tried to break into the premier’s house. Additionally, it was announced that during the protests a volunteer doctor, identified as Tal Weissbach, was seriously injured in the eye by a water cannon and was evacuated to receive medical care along with two other protesters. .

Anti-government protesters took to the streets of Jerusalem on Monday, clashed with police near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home and called for new elections. The often weekly demonstrations have yet to change the political landscape, and Netanyahu still controls a stable majority in parliament.

Following the departures of Gantz and Eisenkot, opposition groups declared a week of street protests including road blockades and mass demonstrations. By evening, a crowd of thousands had gathered outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, before marching toward Netanyahu’s private home in the city. The demonstration became noisy.

After reaching Netanyahu’s house, some of the protesters separated and tried to break through the barriers set up by the Police, who pushed them back. At one point a bonfire was lit in the street and the Police used a water cannon to disperse the demonstration. Many waved Israeli flags while others carried signs criticizing the Government, according to information from the Actualidad RT site and the Reuters news agency.

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, assured that “150,000 Israelis in demonstration demand the removal of the international prisoner Netanyahu,” in reference to the prime minister of Israel. Petro wrote a comment on the social network X, referring to the massive demonstration held outside the Israeli Parliament, in Jerusalem. “The people of Israel are beginning to respond, 150,000 Israelis in demonstration demand the removal of international prisoner Netanyahu”wrote.

Petro repeatedly expressed his rejection of Tel Aviv’s military operation in the Gaza Strip, according to the Actualidad RT site. Since hostilities began in the Palestinian enclave in October 2023, the president has called Israel’s actions “genocide,” leading to diplomatic tensions between the two governments. “Today it is the people of Israel, who are on the front line in the need to respond to the peace of the world and to life,” commented the president, who added a request: “Do what you have to do to change the genocide of children”.

Gustavo Petro was one of the promoters of the request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant against Netanyahu for his refusal to stop the bombings despite the demand of the UN Security Council. Last May, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan demanded arrest warrants against the Israeli premier, his minister Yoav Gallant (Defense) and three Hamas leaders for being “criminally responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed.” in the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine”.

The Israeli Army said in a statement on Tuesday that it had killed several militants in “hand-to-hand” combat in central Gaza and Rafah, the southern end of the Strip, in the last day. “Our troops continue with precise operational activities, based on intelligence, in the Rafah area, eliminating numerous terrorists during the last day in several hand-to-hand encounters,” the military statement details. The Army also explains that they identified two militiamen “armed with an explosive device” in the Rafah area, and that an Israeli fighter plane killed them.

For more than a month now, Israeli troops have maintained their ground offensive in the city bordering Egypt, which they justify by the presence of four battalions of Hamas (an organization considered terrorist by the EU and the United States). Two of which have been practically dismantled according to Israel, while the remaining two are “at low levels of operation.” At least 17 people died tonight in Gaza, according to data from the Palestinian news agency Wafa, after new Israeli bombings against the already damaged refugee camps of Nuseirat and Bureij, in the center of the Gaza Strip.