Israeli minister Benny Gantz resigns from Netanyahu government

Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz announced he is resigning from the country’s emergency government on Sunday.

Gantz said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making “total victory impossible” and said the country must prioritize returning the hostages “above political survival,” The Associated Press reported.

Gantz, a centrist leader and a former military chief, joined Netanyahu’s War Cabinet in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks, in a striking show of national unity.

He has grown more critical of Netanyahu in the eight months since forming the emergency government, and, three weeks ago, he threatened to resign from his post if Netanyahu’s government did not adopt a new plan for the end of the war in Gaza. At the time, he set June 8 as his deadline.

“If you choose the path of fanatics and lead the entire nation to the abyss — we will be forced to quit the government,” Gantz said at the time, referring to members of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition as “fanatics.”

The announcement comes a day after Israeli forces rescued four hostages in the largest such mission since the war began.