Overview

• Benny Gantz unveiled a time-limited emergency cabinet focused on a comprehensive Gaza hostage agreement and draft reform.
• He called on Benjamin Netanyahu, Yair Lapid, and Avigdor Liberman to join a cross-party lineup for a six-month mandate followed by early elections.
• The plan includes a new national service law with haredi enlistment to ease the strain on reservists after nearly two years of war.
• Coalition hardliners dismissed the idea, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir rejecting any deal he views as concessions to Hamas.
• The initiative comes as protests for a hostage deal grow and officials say 49 of the 251 people abducted in 2023 remain in Gaza, including 27 declared dead.