Netanyahu says ministers will decide on next moves in Gaza war this week: ‘We must continue to stand together and fight together’

Ministers will convene this week to decide on how the IDF should go about achieving Israel’s war objectives in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting.

“We must continue to stand together and fight together in order to achieve them,” Netanyahu says in recorded remarks shared by his office, naming the war’s goals as “the defeat of the enemy, the release of our hostages, and ensuring that Gaza will never again pose a threat to Israel.”

The remarks come amid reports that Netanyahu’s cabinet is divided over whether to expand ground operations in Gaza or to restrain military action to allow more time to reach a potential ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Hamas. Netanyahu insisted yesterday that Hamas is uninterested in a deal, creating greater incentive to “destroy” the terror group.

“We are in the midst of an intense war, in which we have achieved very significant, even historic, accomplishments — precisely because we were not divided, because we stood together and fought together,” he says, calling for unity.

“At the same time, we continue to build our land,” adds Netanyahu, announcing alongside Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that the government will today approve “two very important plans for the rehabilitation and development” of southern cities, including Ashkelon, Ofakim, and Netivot, with a total budget of NIS 3.2 billion ($939 million).

The meeting is taking place at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem as hundreds protest outside against the cabinet’s expected vote on a motion to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.