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Most Israeli’s back peace plan, don’t trust their government, poll shows: Updates

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Most Israeli’s back peace plan, don’t trust their government, poll shows: Updates

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has disbanded the coalition War Cabinet that helped manage the military operations against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, multiple media outlets reported Monday.

The decision came days after key opposition leader Benny Gantz, a former defense minister regarded as a centrist, resigned from the War Cabinet citing Netanyahu’s failure to reveal his plans for postwar Gaza. Gantz also accused the prime minister of failing to prioritize negotiating the release of more than 100 hostages still held by militants in Gaza.

The War Cabinet, which included Netanyahu, Gantz and current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, was formed right after the Oct. 7 attacks as a sign of solidarity. Netanyahu aide Ron Dermer and Gantz supporter Gadi Eisenkot, a former general who has also resigned, served as observers. The change allows Netanyahu to stave off demands from far-right Israeli leaders to join the war operation’s inner circle.

Netanyahu and Gallant, who have clashed over the plans for a postwar war Gaza, will instead conduct smaller consultations with officials ahead of key war decisions, The Times of Israel said.

Developments:

∎ The Gaza government media office accused the U.S. and Israel of using the “crime of starvation” to achieve political goals. Tens of thousands of sick and wounded people have no access to food or medicine, and famine is spreading as humanitarian aid is barely flowing, the office said.

∎ U.S. Special Envoy Amos Hochstein met Monday with Netanyahu and was scheduled to meet with President Isaac Herzog and opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Gantz. Hochstein seeks to de-escalate tensions between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants.

∎ Intensified cross-border fire from Hezbollah into Israel “is bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation, one that could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Sunday.

Israel pauses military activity: Meant to facilitate aid into Gaza

Almost 60% of Israelis want their government to accept the cease-fire plan unveiled by President Joe Biden, a survey by the Jewish People Policy Institute reveals. Neither side has announced complete acceptance of the plan. But a quarter of Jewish Israelis and a large majority of Arab Israelis view the Biden proposal as a good one, and another third view the plan is “problematic” but acceptable since there is no better option in sight. A third of all Israelis, and four out of 10 Jewish Israelis, believe the Biden plan should be rejected. Among other findings:

∎ Most Jewish Israelis do not favor Israeli civil administration of Gaza after the war, but most do want Israel to maintain security control of Gaza. That might not fit into the complete “two-state solution” the Biden administration and most of the world are calling for.

∎ About one quarter of Israelis have a high level of trust in their government, while about three-quarters do not.

∎ About 36% of Israelis are urging an all-out attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon as soon as possible, while 26% want to wait until the Gaza war is over. Another 30% want a political settlement.

The Israel military said Monday it has seized control of more than 60% of the southern Gaza city of Rafah and expects to take complete control within two weeks. The military claimed to have dismantled about half of the Hamas fighting force in the city, viewed as the last major holdout for the militant group.

The Israelis said they have killed least 550 gunmen in the area while losing 22 troops. The military also said it has located numerous tunnels into Egypt, some of which had been used by Hamas to smuggle weapons, and that it has eliminated Hamas’ last major rocket inventory.

A daily pause in fighting along a main road in Gaza promised by the Israeli military − which drew criticism from Netanyahu − has not materialized, a U.N. official said Monday. U.N. Palestinian relief chief Philippe Lazzarini said fighting continues unimpeded in Rafah and southern Gaza despite the announcement of “tactical pauses” lasting several hours daily to allow for the flow of humanitarian aid.

Lazzarini said his agency received a notification that there would be a pause, but it was soon followed by the government contradicting that instruction.

“For the time being, I see nothing which would qualify to the definition of a pause,” he said. “Operationally, nothing has changed.”

The Palestinian Authority, the governmental body Biden hopes will govern Gaza after the war, could fall apart in the coming months, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said Monday. The authority manages parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, but has struggled to remain solvent as Israel withholds hundreds of millions in tax collections claiming the authority is funding Hamas members and their families.

Barth Eide cited the lack of funding, continuing violence and Israel’s employment crackdown that banned an estimated 500,000 Palestinians in the West Bank from working in Israel.

“The situation is extremely dire,” Barth Eide told Reuters. “If (the authority) collapses, you could end up having another Gaza, which would be terrible for everybody, including the people of Israel.”

An Associated Press investigation identified at least 60 Palestinian families in which 25 or more people were killed − sometimes four generations from the same bloodline − in bombings across Gaza between October and December, the deadliest and most destructive period of the war.

Nearly a quarter of those families lost more than 50 members, and several families have almost no one left to document the toll, especially as documenting and sharing information became harder.

Youssef Salem spent months filling a spreadsheet as news of the deaths of family members was confirmed. He said he wanted to preserve a last link to the web of relationships.

“My uncles were wiped out, totally,” Salem said. “The heads of households, their wives, children, and grandchildren.”

Contributing: Reuters

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