Ben-Gvir: Gantz's resignation ‘big opportunity’ to achieve ‘victory’ in Gaza

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Monday considered the resignation of War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz as a "very big opportunity" to achieve "victory" in the Gaza Strip.

"The people of Israel want victory in the south, the people of Israel want victory in the north, the people of Israel want to stop the fuel and humanitarian policy, most of which ultimately goes to Hamas. This is not how a country that wants to win behaves," Ben-Gvir told reporters.

He said his Jewish Power Party will request a seat in the War Cabinet.

"The solution is really that we will enter this [war] cabinet and be able to have even more influence," he added.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, for his part, argued that Gantz's resignation would help Tel Aviv to act more decisively against the Palestinian Authority.

War Cabinet members Gantz and Gadi Eizenkot quit the emergency government on Sunday, accusing Netanyahu of pursuing policies that serve his political interests. They also called for early elections "as soon as possible."

Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 37,100 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 84,700 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay 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 Tel Aviv to immediately halt its 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.