Israeli War Cabinet member Benny Gantz is poised to step down from the emergency government this Saturday, a move anticipated since the lapse of his deadline last month for devising a definitive strategy "to secure victory" in the Gaza Strip.
Sources from Israel’s public broadcaster KAN indicate Gantz's resignation is imminent due to the absence of a formulated plan as specified.
The decision comes despite pressure from the U.S., 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 postwar 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 offensive on Gaza since an attack last Oct. 7 by the Palestinian group Hamas, despite a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
Some 36,600 Palestinians have since been killed by Israel in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,000 others injured.
Eight months into the Israeli offensive, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), 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.