Netanyahu leads ‘one man government’, Israeli far-right minister says

On Monday, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right Minister of National Security in Israel, charged that Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, was excluding his coalition partners.

Ben-Gvir claimed on X that Netanyahu was leading a “one-man government” and that the prime minister had given in to “terror on every front.”

The charge came after Netanyahu turned down the extremist’s request to be included in an organization that oversees the Gaza conflict and makes decisions about it.

“We did not join to be cheerleaders to the tribune. We came to influence,” Ben-Gvir said.

Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service, and CIA Director William Burns arrived in Egypt on Monday to discuss a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap agreement between Tel Aviv and Hamas.

For months, efforts by the US, Qatar, and Egypt to negotiate an agreement between Israel and Hamas for a hostage swap and cease-fire have been impeded by Netanyahu’s refusal to accept Hamas’ plea to end hostilities.

Israel has faced widespread censure for defying a UN Security Council decision calling for an immediate cease-fire in its ongoing savage operation on Gaza since the Palestinian party Hamas attacked on October 7, 2023.

According to local health authorities, more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed, the majority of them are women and children, and almost 88,000 have been injured.

Nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.