Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu cannot remain PM after Gaza war: minister

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is unlikely to remain as premier after the war with Hamas ends, an unnamed Israeli minister told local media Tuesday evening.

On Monday, Yedioth Ahronoth reported that at least three members of Netanyahu’s cabinet were considering resigning, without naming them.

"Likud [party] minister [led by Netanyahu] are talking in closed rooms that the prime minister will not be able to remain in office after the war, and that the government in its current composition will not be able to survive," the minister told Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

"Even today, ministers are afraid to show their faces in public and are afraid of public anger, including Likud members and Netanyahu supporters."

It comes after attacks launched on 7 October that killed 1,400 Israelis in the biggest security breach in decades, with protesters demanding the ouster of Netanyahu and calls for him to stand trial over the killings.

Since then, Gaza - which has been under Israeli siege since 2007 - has been bombarded from the air, killing 6,000 Palestinians including 2,000 children.

Hospitals, mosques, and markets have been hit by the Israeli airstrikes.

🔴 ISRAEL: Anti-government protests took place in Tel Aviv last night. Israelis put blame on Netanyahu for provoking the violent conflict and abandoning their missing families in HAMAS' captivity. pic.twitter.com/3lnGk71oYu

— Bloomberg Whistleblower (@bloombergblower) October 22, 2023

A commission of inquiry will likely be established to examine the events leading to the war.

Since late last year, Netanyahu has led what is believed to be Israel's most far-right government ever, with his cabinet including extremist Jewish settlers such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, among others.

Earlier this week, a poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that trust in the Israeli government is at a 20-year low.

The poll found that only 20.5 percent of Jewish Israelis and 7.5 percent of Palestinian citizens of Israel trusted Netanyahu’s government. In June, they were 28 percent and 18 percent respectively.

Hamas captured more than 200 hostages in their 7 October attack, so far releasing four of them. The Palestinian movement said some have died in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.

After ordering a total siege on Gaza, Israel only recently allowed a small quantity of aid into the enclave – but with no fuel,which is desperately needed for generators.

The health ministry in Gaza said Tuesday that hospitals have officially begun shutting down as they run out of fuel for electricity, leaving thousands at risk of dying.

While Gaza has been subject to numerous Israeli assaults since 2007, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem have suffered from deadly Israeli security raids, arrests, and home evictions.

Hamas has said its 7 October attack was in retaliation for decades of Israeli oppression and occupation.

There are concerns that the war could expand into a wider regional conflict.