Israel forms emergency government ahead of imminent Gaza ground invasion

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and opposition leader, Benny Gantz, reached a deal this afternoon to form a wartime unity government, as Israel prepares for what is expected to be its most aggressive ground invasion of Gaza to date.

The agreement to form an emergency government in Israel will also see Netanyahu and Gantz, a former defence minister and military chief of staff set up a “war cabinet” with Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, and two others. 

During the war period, “no bills or government decisions will be promoted that do not concern the conduct of the war” – in a further sign that the violence is set to escalate considerably. 

Over 1,200 Israelis, including 155 soldiers, have already been killed since Saturday’s incursion, according to the IDF while, in Gaza, the health ministry says more than 1,050 Palestinians have been killed, including 260 children, with at least a further 5,100 injured. Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip have also killed 9 UN staffers at their homes across the territory. 

Gaza’s sole power plant – and only source of electricity – ran out of fuel and shut down today, two days after Israel announced it would be cutting off fuel – alongside food and water supplies – to the enclave. And doctors say they are struggling to treat the inured, with hospitals fast becoming overwhelmed and medical supplies running out. 

The Israeli Air Force – which has continued with its aerial bombardment of Gaza today – says it has hit over 450 targets in the space of just 24 hours, including part of the Islamic University in Gaza City which “serves as a major training centre for Hamas engineers” who produce weapons. 

This is just the beginning. The Israeli military says it has massed troops at or near the border with Gaza, including 300,000 reservists, and is getting ready to execute its mission. And an Egyptian official told the Times of Israel today that “Israel is reading for a months-long ground campaign in Gaza”.

In the 18 years since withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, Israel has invaded it by ground only twice. This third ground invasion is likely to be longer and more violent than anything that came before. In the past, Israel had vowed to severely weaken Hamas but now it is promising total destruction of the group.

The problem, as Daniel Byman of Georgetown University tells The Economist, is that “separating Hamas from Gaza is an almost impossible task.” Hamas is deeply rooted in Gaza, embedded in a range of charities, schools and mosques. 

Another big problem for the Israelis is the presence of over 100 hostages inside the Gaza strip – hostages who Hamas has threatened to execute one-by-one every time Israel strikes civilian homes “without advanced warning”. 

Those inside Gaza will be hoping this convinces the Israeli military to tread more carefully and to tone back the scale of its attacks. 

Though Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s controversial far-right finance minister – who sparked an outcry back in March when he gave a speech in Paris declaring “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people” – has urged the army to “not take the matter of the captives into significant consideration.”

Netanyahu will likely struggle to decide on the exact scope of the ground offensive – and may well be relieved he has the opposition leader to be held partially responsible for the decision-making – and outcome of the invasion. 

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