From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Netanyahu zips lips on potential plan to flood Hamas tunnels
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GooglePrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is keeping mum about the possible use of seawater to deluge Hamas’s tunnels, saying he won’t “volunteer information to the enemy,” following a report on the possible plan and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy’s public endorsement of it earlier.
He also says he won’t go into technical and operational details regarding IDF operations endangering hostages.
Netanyahu says he assumes National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir will tell him what his plans are regarding the imminent end of the current police commissioner’s tenure.
The premier says the possibility of allowing West Bank Palestinians to return to work in Israel is being weighed, a policy opposed by Ben Gvir.
There are reasons not to allow their return because of fears raised by October 7, he says, and reasons to allow it because of the needs of the building and agriculture industries and the need to avoid rising tension in the territories because of economic issues.
Regarding the possibility of Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman joining the war coalition, Netanyahu says, “I’d be pleased to hear from him.”
Minister Benny Gantz says there is a place reserved in the war cabinet for Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, and that he has “no objection” to Liberman joining the coalition.
The Times of Israel Community.