Pressure mounts on Netanyahu

JERUSALEM/GAZA — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traded barbs with his defense minister on Monday, underscoring the deep internal splits that continue to plague the government as the conflict in Gaza risks spilling out into a wider regional conflict.

Following Israeli media reports quoting Defense Minister Yoav Gallant dismissing Netanyahu's aim of total victory against the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza as "nonsense", Netanyahu's office put out a statement rebuking Gallant.

"When Gallant adopts the anti-Israel narrative, he harms the chances of reaching a hostage deal," the statement said.

It said Israel's aim remained "total victory", with the elimination of Hamas and the release of the remaining hostages seized by Hamas-led gunmen on Oct 7 last year.

"This is the clear directive of Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Security Cabinet, and it obligates everyone, including Gallant," it said.

The exchange came as Israel has been bracing for a possible attack by Iran and Hezbollah, after a sharp escalation in tensions following a missile strike that killed 12 youngsters in the Golan Heights on July 27.

In the wake of that attack, Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut. Hours later, the political leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Teheran, drawing vows of retaliation from Iran.

As the frantic diplomacy continued, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer both called on Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to de-escalate the situation.

A Tuesday report by the official IRNA news agency said Pezeshkian, in a late Monday phone conversation with Starmer, said that a punitive response to an aggressor is "a right of nations and a solution for stopping crimes and aggression".

Pezeshkian said that the West's silence about "unprecedented inhumane crime" in Gaza and Israeli attacks elsewhere in the Middle East was "irresponsible" and encouraged Israel to put regional and global security at risk.

In another development in Iran politics, Mohammad Javad Zarif has resigned from his new post as Iranian vice-president for strategic affairs and head of the Center for Strategic Studies, just 10 days after his appointment.

In a post on X on Sunday night, he said he was "not satisfied with the result of his work". Meanwhile, he stressed that he still had faith in everything he had said about Pezeshkian during the election campaign.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and asked the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area, as the US on Monday said it believes Iran or its proxies may launch a strike against Israel as soon as this week.

The public reprimand of Gallant, who has repeatedly clashed with Netanyahu and the nationalist-religious parties in his coalition, was the latest episode of internal strife that has persisted since the government took office in 2022.

Last year, Netanyahu tried to sack Gallant over his opposition to plans to curb the power of the Supreme Court, only to have to reverse course in the face of mass protests by hundreds of thousands of Israelis.

Last-ditch attempt

The latest exchange comes ahead of a last-ditch attempt to revive Egyptian and Qatari-brokered talks to halt the fighting in Gaza and bring back 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still held in the battered enclave.

Hamas has said it will not send a delegation to the meeting, accusing Netanyahu of wasting time rather than making an honest attempt to reach a deal.

International pressure also mounted on Monday for a ceasefire in Gaza as Britain, France and Germany made a joint plea to end fighting between Israel and Hamas with "no further delay".

"The fighting must end now, and all hostages still detained by Hamas must be released," French President Emmanuel Macron, Scholz and Starmer said in a joint statement.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued with their operations near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Monday.

Palestinian medics said Israeli military strikes on Khan Younis on Monday killed at least 18 people and wounded several others. Meanwhile, more families and displaced persons streamed out of areas threatened by new evacuation orders asking people to clear the area.

Later, an Israeli airstrike killed five people in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City, and two others were killed in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, medics said.

Agencies - Xinhua