Business leaders warn Netanyahu that Israel will be weakened in the ‘eyes of her enemies’ if he fires Gallant
As we mentioned in an earlier post, there are widespread reports that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is contemplating firing his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and replacing him with Gideon Saar, who is currently a member of the opposition and the New Hope party leader.
Saar has been critical about making a deal with Hamas to end the war in Gaza, while Gallant has been pushing for a truce. Gallant has dismissed Netanyahu’s repeated aim of “total victory” as nonsense. He has also called for a clearer post-war plan that would see the enclave governed by Palestinians.
Israel’s Business Forum has urged Netanyahu to keep Gallant in his position as defence minister, saying it would create more division and weaken the country if he was let go.
The forum, which consists of 200 heads of Israel’s largest companies that employ many private sector workers, said Netanyahu should stop “messing around with petty politics” during a time of war.
In a statement, the forum said:
Immediately stop the process of replacing (Gallant). The firing of the minister weakens Israel in the eyes of her enemies, and will further deepen the division in the people of Israel…
The prime minister knows better than anyone that all the economic indicators also prove that Israel is deteriorating into an economic abyss and sinking into a deep recession.
The last thing Israel needs at this time is the firing of a defence minister – which will continue to shock the country.
Netanyahu denied he was in negotiations with Saar, though he did not refer to his plans for Gallant. Rumours that Netanyahu would replace Gallant in a reshuffle have been circulating for months but seem to have recently picked up pace.
In March 2023, Netanyahu fired Gallant after he broke ranks with the government and urged a halt to a highly contested plan to overhaul the judicial system. That triggered mass protests and Netanyahu backtracked on his decision.
Key events
Dozens of Hezbollah members injured in Lebanon when pagers exploded – report
The Reuters news agency has been told by sources that dozens of members of Hezbollah were seriously injured today in Lebanon’s south, and the southern suburbs of Beirut, when the pagers they use to communicate exploded.
A Reuters journalist saw 10 Hezbollah members bleeding from wounds in the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh. These claims have not yet been independently verified by the Guardian.
Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, has reported that Israel’s security forces have demolished two homes belonging to Palestinians in Khirbet Jbara, south of the city of Tulkarm in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
One of those whose home was destroyed, Muhammad Jabara, said that he had not been able to remove family possessions from the building before the Israeli forces demolished the house.
In the last hour Israel’s military has reported on its official Telegram channel that “a number of UAVs were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Some of the UAVs were intercepted and some fell in an area adjacent to Ramot Naftali. No injuries were reported.”
Sirens have been sounding in northern Israel “due to the possibility of falling shrapnel from the interception”, it said.
Lebanon’s house speaker, Nabih Berri, met with the head of Unrwa Philippe Lazzarini today. Lebanese state media reports that:
Lazzarini expressed concern over the escalating conflict, particularly in Gaza and the West Bank, and the growing tensions between Israel and Lebanon.
He highlighted the increasing displacement on both sides of the border and emphasised the need for preparedness, while hoping to avoid further escalation.
Moreover, Lazzarini also raised concerns about continuous attacks on Unrwa and Israeli efforts to dismantle the agency, mentioning that its facilities and staff in Gaza face daily threats.
Al Jazeera reports that its verification unit has ascertained via satellite imagery that in the northern Gaza Strip, Israel has completely destroyed nine UN-run schools, and partially destroyed three others that had been sheltering displaced civilians.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has banned Al Jazeera from operating inside Israel.
Here are some of the latest images coming from the newswires out of Gaza:
Israel says it thwarted Hezbollah plot to kill former defence official
Israel’s domestic security agency said it had foiled a plot by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior defence official in the coming days, Reuters reports. The official was not named.
The Shin Bet agency said it had seized an explosive device attached to a remote detonation system, using a mobile phone and a camera, that Hezbollah had planned to operate from Lebanon.
Shin Bet said the attempted attack was similar to a Hezbollah plot foiled in Tel Aviv a year ago, without giving further details.
There have been near daily exchanges of fire across the Israel-Lebanon border since 7 October 2023, when Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, stormed into Israeli communities and military bases, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages.
Patrick Wintour
Patrick Wintour is diplomatic editor for the Guardian
The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has said Tehran has shown restraint so far in its response to the Israeli assassination of the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh because it believes Israel has been trying to lure it into a regional war.
Pezeshkian, a reformist who was elected unexpectedly three months ago, was speaking at a wide-ranging and unprecedented two-and-half-hour press conference in which nearly half of the questions were from foreign media.
“What Israel has done in the region and what Israel tried with the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran was to drag us into a regional war,” he told reporters. “We have exercised restraint so far but we reserve the right to defend ourselves at a specific time and place with specific methods.”
It remains a matter of debate whether Pezeshkian, who has a frank, consensual style, has access to the real levers of power or the political will to transform Iran’s relations with the west. But his use of a large international platform and often unpretentious direct manner suggests he is a new and unpredictable element in Iranian politics.
You can read the full story here:
German news media outlets have called on Israel to grant them access to Gaza, and for neighbouring Egypt to allow entry to the territory via the Rafah border crossing.
“After almost a year of war, we call on the Israeli government: allow us to enter the Gaza Strip,” a group of newspapers, agencies and broadcasters wrote in an open letter.
The media organisations wrote that “anyone who makes independent reporting on this war impossible is damaging their own credibility”.
“Anyone who prohibits us from working in the Gaza Strip is creating the conditions for human rights to be violated.”
The open letter was addressed to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and had been delivered on Monday.
Signatories included editors and reporters from Der Spiegel, Die Welt, public broadcasters ARD and ZDF and the German Journalists Association.
As of today, the Committee to Protect Journalist’s (CPJ) preliminary investigations showed at least 116 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war began last October, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began collecting data in 1992. 111 of these journalists were Palestinian, three were Lebanese and two were Israeli.
The CPJ said:
To date, CPJ has determined that at least five journalists were directly targeted by Israeli forces in killings which CPJ classifies as murders: Issam Abdallah, Hamza Al Dahdouh, Mustafa Thuraya, Ismail Al Ghoul, and Rami Al Refee. CPJ is still researching the details for confirmation in at least 10 other cases that indicate possible targeting.
Israel denies that it targets journalists, saying it only targets Hamas, the Palestinian militant group.
Business leaders warn Netanyahu that Israel will be weakened in the ‘eyes of her enemies’ if he fires Gallant
As we mentioned in an earlier post, there are widespread reports that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is contemplating firing his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and replacing him with Gideon Saar, who is currently a member of the opposition and the New Hope party leader.
Saar has been critical about making a deal with Hamas to end the war in Gaza, while Gallant has been pushing for a truce. Gallant has dismissed Netanyahu’s repeated aim of “total victory” as nonsense. He has also called for a clearer post-war plan that would see the enclave governed by Palestinians.
Israel’s Business Forum has urged Netanyahu to keep Gallant in his position as defence minister, saying it would create more division and weaken the country if he was let go.
The forum, which consists of 200 heads of Israel’s largest companies that employ many private sector workers, said Netanyahu should stop “messing around with petty politics” during a time of war.
In a statement, the forum said:
Immediately stop the process of replacing (Gallant). The firing of the minister weakens Israel in the eyes of her enemies, and will further deepen the division in the people of Israel…
The prime minister knows better than anyone that all the economic indicators also prove that Israel is deteriorating into an economic abyss and sinking into a deep recession.
The last thing Israel needs at this time is the firing of a defence minister – which will continue to shock the country.
Netanyahu denied he was in negotiations with Saar, though he did not refer to his plans for Gallant. Rumours that Netanyahu would replace Gallant in a reshuffle have been circulating for months but seem to have recently picked up pace.
In March 2023, Netanyahu fired Gallant after he broke ranks with the government and urged a halt to a highly contested plan to overhaul the judicial system. That triggered mass protests and Netanyahu backtracked on his decision.
Over 11,000 students killed in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, education ministry says
The Palestinian education ministry has said 11,001 students – from schools and universities – have been killed and 17,772 injured in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank since 7 October 2023.
Here is a breakdown of the number of students and educational staff the ministry say have been killed, injured or arrested by Israeli forces between 7 October 2023 and 17 September 2024:
Death toll in Gaza reaches 41,252, says health ministry
At least 41,252 Palestinian people have been killed and 95,497 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The ministry has said thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the enclave.
Israeli forces have arrested 30 Palestinians, including a child and former prisoners, over the last 24 hours in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission.
The total number of Palestinians detained in the occupied West Bank since 7 October 2023 is estimated to have risen to over 10,700.
Human rights groups and international organisations have alleged widespread abuse of inmates detained by Israel in raids in the occupied West Bank, which Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state along with Gaza.
Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, has reported that four Palestinian people, including a child, were killed by Israeli forces bombing several homes in the al-Bureij camp in central Gaza on Tuesday morning.
Sources also told the outlet that a person was killed after Israeli soldiers bombed a bicycle in the Qizan Rashwan area in the southern city of Khan Younis. These claims are yet to have been independently verified by the Guardian.
The US has announced fresh sanctions against five individuals and a company associated with the Intellexa Consortium for their role in developing and distributing spyware that allegedly presents “a significant threat” to US national security.
The move comes months after the US government sanctioned Intellexa’s founder and other parties for their role in making and distributing commercial spyware used to target US officials, journalists and others.
The US Treasury said on Monday it had sanctioned another five individuals associated with Intellexa’s international web of companies allegedly involved in supplying the group’s Predator spyware to foreign governments.
They were targeted “for their role in developing, operating, and distributing commercial spyware technology that presents a significant threat to the national security of the United States,” the Treasury said in a statement.
Predator spyware can be used to turn a target’s cellphone into a surveillance device and gain access to data stored and transmitted by the device.
Acting Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Bradley Smith, said:
The United States will not tolerate the reckless propagation of disruptive technologies that threatens our national security and undermines the privacy and civil liberties of our citizens.
We will continue to hold accountable those that seek to enable the proliferation of exploitative technologies, while also encouraging the responsible development of technologies that align with international standards.
Former US president Barack Obama hosted Yair Lapid, the Israeli opposition leader, in Washington on Monday.
Lapid, who is also a former prime minister, thanked Obama for his “public support and efforts for the return of the Israeli abductees held in Gaza”, adding in a post on X: “I told him that we should all work together to secure a deal that will bring the abductees home.”
נפגשתי עם הנשיא לשעבר ברק אובמה בלשכתו בוושינגטון. הודיתי לו על תמיכתו הפומבית ומאמציו להחזרת החטופים הישראלים המוחזקים בעזה. אמרתי לו שעל כולנו לעבוד יחד כדי להבטיח עסקה שתחזיר את החטופים הביתה🎗️ pic.twitter.com/qV5rMWkjV2
— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) September 17, 2024
Benjamin Netanyahu considering firing defence minister – reports
There are reports that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering replacing his defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
Israel’s leading television channels and news websites reported that Netanyahu, under pressure from far-right coalition partners, was contemplating firing Gallant and replacing him with former ally turned rival, Gideon Saar, who is a member of the opposition.
Netanyahu has dismissed calls by Gallant and others to accept a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the southern border area of the Gaza Strip as the price of a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Gallant, who Netanyahu tried to fire in 2023, has been openly scornful of the Israeli prime minister’s repeated aim of “total victory” in Gaza, which he has dismissed as “nonsense”.
“Instead of the prime minister being busy with victory over Hamas, returning the hostages, with the war against Hezbollah and allowing (evacuated) residents of the north to return to their homes, he is busy with despicable political dealings and replacing the defence minister,” Benny Gantz, the centre-right National Unity party leader and Netanyahu’s main political rival, wrote on social media.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israel has expanded its stated goals of the war to include enabling residents to return to communities in northern Israel that have been evacuated due to attacks by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The decision was approved during an overnight meeting of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, his office said. Tens of thousands of Israelis were evacuated from towns along the northern frontier that have been badly damaged by rocket fire and have yet to return.
Separately, on Monday, Israel’s defence minister said “the possibility for an agreement is running out as Hezbollah continues to ‘tie itself’ to Hamas, and refuses to end the conflict. Therefore, the only way left to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes will be via military action.”
It comes as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was due to travel to Cairo to discuss a proposal for a ceasefire deal and release of hostages. It will be his 10th trip to the region since the outbreak of the war almost a year ago.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, meanwhile, has warned of the devastating consequences of further regional escalation in the conflict.
In a statement from the US defence department, he “reaffirmed the necessity of a ceasefire and hostage deal, and that Israel should give diplomatic negotiations time to succeed, noting the devastating consequences that escalation would have on the people of Israel, Lebanon, and the broader region.”
Here is a summary of the day’s other main events:
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Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar has said the Palestinian militant group had the resources to sustain its fight against Israel, with support from Iran-backed regional allies. In a letter to the group’s Yemeni allies, the Houthis, he said “we have prepared ourselves to fight a long war of attrition … our combined efforts with you” and with groups in Lebanon and Iraq “will break this enemy and inflict defeat on it”.
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Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes killed 16 people in the Gaza Strip on Monday, including five women and four children. A strike flattened a home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 10 people there, according to officials at the Awda hospital, which received the bodies. Another strike on a home in Gaza City killed six people, according to the civil defence first responders.
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UN secretary general António Guterres has said that “nothing justifies” the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. “We all condemn the terror attacks made by Hamas, as well as the taking of the hostages, that is an absolute violation of international humanitarian law,” he said, before adding “the truth is that nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, and that is what we are witnessing in a dramatic way in Gaza”.
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Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, told Agence France-Presse that new generations of fighters have been recruited since the 7 October attacks.
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Polio vaccination coverage in Gaza has reached 90%, the head of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency said on Monday, adding that the next step was to ensure hundreds of thousands of children got a second dose at the end of the month. The campaign, which began on 1 September, aims to vaccinate 640,000 children in Gaza under 10 years of age against polio.
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Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to New York on 24 September, the first day of the high-level general debate by world leaders at the annual UN general assembly, his office has said. It said the Israeli prime minister is scheduled to stay until 28 September in the US, which he had visited in July for official talks and a congressional address.
