Wounded pour into Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Hospital amid relentless Israeli strikes

Dov Waxman, professor of Israel studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has been talking to Al Jazeera about the potential impact of Gantz’s departure from the government.

Waxman noted that Gantz’s party, the National Unity Party, wasn’t part of Netanyahu’s original governing coalition, and his decision to join a unity government gave the coalition some measure of “domestic legitimacy”. With Gantz’s resignation, political pressure on the prime minister is likely to grow – both at home and overseas – Waxman explained.

“This was a government that was deeply unpopular even before October 7 but Gantz’s entry into the government stabilised the government and gave it some domestic legitimacy. Without Gantz and his partners, the government will lose that domestic legitimacy and that will increase the pressure on Netanyahu to hold early elections.

“But I don’t think Netanyahu is likely to do that because he knows that, at least according to current opinion polls, his party would lose that election. He and his coalition partners are determined to cling onto power for as long as possible.

“Internationally, particularly in the West and the United States, Gantz was seen, rightly or not, as a kind of moderating influence – the so-called adult in the room – and I think that reduced some of the international pressure that Netanyahu might have faced. Without Gantz being there, I think Netanyahu is likely to face more pressure from the Biden administration and more international pressure because really, frankly, that is the only moderating influence Netanyahu will face now. So, that international pressure, I think, is likely to increase.”