Israeli airstrikes in central Gaza have killed 20 people, most of them women and children, as disputes intensified over who should rule Gaza, where the war is now in its eighth month.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing criticism from his wartime cabinet and his main political rival, Benny Gantz, has threatened to quit his government unless a plan for a post-war international government in Gaza is drawn up by June 8. He has threatened to resign.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Israeli leaders on Sunday and said Saudi Arabia would recognize Israel and help the Palestinian Authority negotiate its plans and in return find a path to a final state.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, who opposes a Palestinian state, said Israel would maintain full security control over Gaza and work with local Palestinians not affiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, and those proposals were rejected.
Gantz’s departure will not derail Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, but will leave it dependent on far-right allies who support the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from Gaza, a full military occupation and the reconstruction of Jewish settlements there.