Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has informed his cabinet ministers of the cancellation of the war council following the withdrawal of Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, according to an Israeli newspaper report on Monday.
The newspaper, Israel Hayom, stated that Netanyahu announced the cancellation after National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir requested to join the war council. Netanyahu told the ministers, “The war council is cancelled.”
The political and security cabinet had been discussing steps to strengthen settlements in the West Bank, including responses to unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by some countries after October 7.
The cabinet also deliberated on a series of actions to be taken against the Palestinian Authority due to its activities against Israel in international forums.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the government’s legal advisor requested additional time to review and provide feedback on some of the proposed measures.
Netanyahu instructed that all proposals be put to a vote in the next cabinet session.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that actions against the Palestinian Authority have been postponed until the next cabinet meeting.
It added that the Defense Minister sought to understand and assess the security implications of decisions against the Palestinian Authority, hence the request for more time to study the issues.
The Israeli army recently announced it will implement a limited daily “tactical pause” along one of the main roads in the Gaza Strip to facilitate the delivery of increased humanitarian aid.
Despite this pause, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) emphasized that it should not be seen as a “cessation of hostilities in the southern Gaza Strip”.
This announcement coincided with the disclosure that three more Israeli soldiers were killed on Saturday, raising the total to 11, including eight who died in an attack on their armored personnel carrier in the southern city of Rafah.
