Israeli ministers threaten Netanyahu during meeting with dissolving War Cabinet

JERUSALEM

Two ministers in Israel's War Cabinet have threatened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with dissolving the cabinet, accusing him of excluding them from decisions on Israeli hostages in Gaza, local media reported.

Public broadcaster KAN reported that Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, both from the opposition National Unity party, threatened Netanyahu during a meeting Thursday to dissolve the War Cabinet.

Gantz and Eisenkot expressed dismay at Netanyahu's decision not to send a delegation to Egypt's capital Cairo to attend meetings on a possible prisoner swap deal with Palestinian group Hamas.

According to KAN, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who is also in the War Cabinet, objected to Netanyahu's decision on not sending a delegation to Cairo.

This came after Netanyahu on Wednesday ruled out sending a delegation for the follow-up discussions on a possible hostage deal.

His office said Israel "will not submit to Hamas' illusory demands. Only a change in Hamas' position will allow progress in the negotiations."

KAN also said tension in the War Cabinet has reached its highest level in recent days.

Israel believes 134 Israelis are still being held in Gaza after the Israeli army managed on Monday to free two hostages in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The ensuing Israeli attack had killed at least 28,775, injured more than 68,552 others, and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar