Minister Benny Gantz of Israel’s war cabinet has declared a critical ultimatum to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to create a six-point plan about post-war Gaza and it’s governance by June 8.

If his expectations are not met, Gantz has threatened to withdraw his centrist party, National Unity, from the coalition. 

Addressing the press, Gantz said, “While Israeli soldiers are displaying incredible bravery on the front, some of the people who sent them to battle are acting with cowardice and a lack of responsibility.”

While Gantz does not directly have any hold over the seats that may effect the union coalition, his threat does create a political crisis within the Israeli government at a time where PM Netanyahu has admitted that Israel needs to be united. Gantz’s demand is backed up by the destruction in Gaza that requires immediate humanitarian assistance to prevent further loss and instability. 

centrist party
Image Source: Physics Wallah

Gantz seeks to bring Israeli hostages back from Gaza safely and claims that the lack of proper planning and foresight might leave Gaza in Hamas’ hands again. He also believes that going on further, alongside Israeli security control, there should be an international civilian governance mechanism for Gaza— this would include American, European, Arab and Palestinian elements and serve as an alternative to Hamas and President Abbas. 

In response to this, PM Netanyahu’s office posed several questions to Gantz, including whether he supports seeing the Rafah operation through to the end, opposes Palestinian Authority rule in Gaza and would endorse a Palestinian state as part of a normalisation process with Saudi Arabia. 

This comes amidst the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and following a brutal assault on Rafah, the last place of refuge in Gaza and, according to PM Netanyahu, the last place where Hamas can hide. 

Roughly 80% of Gaza’s population has been displaced in the war— over 35,000 people have been killed, over 77,000 people injured and over 10,000 still buried in the debris. Significant infrastructure like hospitals, schools and residential areas has been destroyed. 

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for both Israel and Hamas, notably PM Netanyahu himself, accusing them of war crimes against humanity. Severe documentation of all kinds of humanitarian crimes being committed in the war has been ascertained to be the reason behind this decision.

The ICC’s involvement highlights the severity of the issue and while most countries all over the world accept it’s jurisdiction, the US and Israel do not. However, having joined the Rome Statute (ICC’s founding treaty) in 2015, the State of Palestine is under the ICC’s jurisdiction and all the alleged crimes committed in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem can be brought to trial.

While Israel is a non-party to the Rome Statute and is not obliged to accept ICC’s warrants, these warrants will impact their international navigability. The 124 countries that are signatories to the statute have actively committed to turning in individuals with active ICC arrest warrants in their territories and this will affect all the mobility of all those issued an arrest warrant by ICC.

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