Israel's Diplomatic-Security Cabinet gathered overnight on Thursday to discuss the future of the Gaza Strip after the nation's war against Hamas ends. The meeting was reportedly cut off after lawmakers clashed with the defense establishment over the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) investigation of the mistakes leading to the October 7 tragedy that had previously been promised to start after the Israel-Hamas war.
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Miri Regev, Minister of Transport and Road Safety, pointed out that the decision over the probe had been made without lawmakers' knowledge and argued that the army should be fully focused on the combat in the moment.
The question of the post-war Gaza uncovered the deep ideological divide within the coalition as the right-wing ministers, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have promoted the idea of Gazans' permanent displacement and return of Israeli settlements into the Strip.
The investigation is said to include former Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. The decision angered the far-right politicians due to his involvement in the disengagement from Gaza back in 2005.
Dismissing the criticism toward the army's probe, Benny Gantz, a former Chief of Staff and Defense Minister, reportedly responded: "This is a professional investigation, what does it have to do with the disengagement [from the Gaza Strip in 2005]?"
"The chief of staff is f***ing investigating what happened now to serve the goals of the war and our ability to prepare for a conflict in the north. This is not a national investigation."
An unnamed minister told Hebrew media outlet KAN News that "it was a despicable discussion that exploded. They attacked the army. Some senior members of the defense establishment left in the middle."
"It's a shame and disgrace what happened there. You can criticize the army, but they attacked the chief of staff personally and endlessly. You have to think about whether this forum is worthy of making decisions at the level of our security policy," KAN cited another minister.
"I don't want to think what will happen when our soldiers in the field hear about what happened there and how they attacked their chief of staff," they added.
As a result of the heated exchange, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut off the discussion saying it would continue on another occasion.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
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