Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and one of the main opposition leaders, Benny Gantz, announced on Wednesday an agreement to create an emergency government for the duration of the war, four days after the Islamist movement’s deadly offensive Palestinian Hamas.
At the end of a meeting between the Prime Minister and the president of the National Unity Party, Benny Gantz, “the two men agreed on the establishment of an emergency government and “a war cabinet,” they said in a joint statement.
The war cabinet will be made up of the two men and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Benny Gantz, former army chief, notably during the 50-day war in Gaza against Hamas in 2014, was defense minister between 2020 and 2022.
The press release specifies that five members of Mr. Gantz’s party will be named ministers without portfolio and a place in the security cabinet will be kept for the other opposition leader, Yaïr Lapid, former prime minister and head of the centrist Yesh Atid party.
“No proposed law or government decision unrelated to the course of the war will be proposed by the government,” the press release specifies.
Mr. Netanyahu’s current government, supported by 64 out of 120 MPs, is made up of right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.
With the entry of Benny Gantz’s party, the emergency government will have broader support with 76 deputies.