Netanyahu books meet with southern leaders after being flogged for talking with settlers first

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly scheduled a meeting with local leaders from the Gaza border region, his first since the Hamas attacks of October 7 and the outbreak of war.

The reported meeting comes after the premier came under heavy criticism for planning a meeting with settlement leaders today despite the fact that he had not given politicians from the south the same face time.

In a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office quoted by Channel 13 reporter Almog Boker on X, Netanyahu claims to have already spoken with all leaders from the south on the phone and met with some of them.

He also denies the scheduled meeting with them was in response to the criticism.

“Yesterday, before it was publicized, the PM invited all the heads of regional councils in the Gaza border region to a meeting this Friday,” his office says, according to the tweet.

The office says a meeting with settler leaders is being held as part of war cabinet consultations with the IDF’s Central Command “given security officials’ warnings about a severe deterioration of security in” the West Bank.