Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced, on Wednesday, his resignation from the Knesset while remaining a member of the Likud Party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, indicating that “his journey is not over yet,” less than two months after his dismissal from his position as Minister of Defense.
“He resigned from Parliament (the Knesset) after often taking an independent line from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies in the government,” Gallant said.
Netanyahu dismissed Galant from the government in November, after months of disagreement over the way to manage the war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, but he retained his seat as an elected member of the Knesset.
Gallant said, in a statement broadcast on television: “Just as it is the case on the battlefield, it has become the case in public service. There are moments when one must stop, evaluate and choose a direction in order to achieve goals.”
It is expected that Gallant’s move will facilitate Netanyahu’s work to garner majority votes in Parliament and support some crucial bills. However, the Times of Israel newspaper quoted local media as saying that Gallant may have resigned from the Knesset in anticipation of his Likud party declaring him a dissident. He expelled him, which would have prevented him from running on his list in the future.
Avichai Boaron, a member of the Knesset from the Likud Party, said on the “X” platform, “Gallant knew that if he did not resign on Wednesday, the Likud bloc would have announced that he would be considered retired.”
Gallant was absent from the Knesset, on Tuesday evening, during a vote on the 2025 budget, which Netanyahu attended despite his recent discharge from the hospital after undergoing surgery.
Last November, Netanyahu dismissed Galant from the government, after months of disagreements between them regarding the way to manage the war in the Gaza Strip, but he retained his seat as an elected member of the Knesset.
The International Criminal Court recently issued arrest warrants against Gallant and Netanyahu, on charges of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict, but Tel Aviv rejects the court’s decision.
Abed Afif, from the Druze community, is expected to replace former Defense Minister Yoav Galant from Likud, after his resignation from the Knesset, according to Hebrew media reports. Afif ranked 44th on the Likud list in the 2022 Knesset elections, and if he enters the Knesset, Afif will be the only Druze MP in the ruling coalition, according to the Times of Israel.
Israeli media: Reaching understandings regarding the exchange deal
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that Tel Aviv and the Hamas movement, through mediators, reached “understandings” regarding a prisoner exchange deal and a ceasefire in Gaza, during which it was decided to “postpone the discussion of controversial issues in the negotiations until the second phase of the agreement.”
The Commission indicated on Wednesday evening that there are many “controversial points” between the two parties within the negotiations, most notably the list of prisoners in Gaza, which Israel insists on obtaining.
She added, “Hamas rejects Israel’s request to provide a list of the names of the living abductees. However, there are understandings reached between Israel and the movement through mediators, according to the same source.”
The Commission stated that one of the understandings was “to transfer all matters in dispute to the discussions in the second phase of the deal, in order to begin implementing the first phase, which is the humanitarian phase.”
Tel Aviv detains more than 10,300 Palestinians in its prisons, and estimates that there are 100 Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip, while Hamas announced that dozens of them were killed in random Israeli raids.
The authority quoted Israeli sources familiar with the progress of the negotiations as saying: “The agreement is almost ready, and the obstacles can be overcome.” She claimed that Hamas “does not oppose completing the deal in two stages.”
According to the Commission, Hamas demands a halt to the movement of military aircraft and the Israeli march over the Gaza Strip during the beginning of the ceasefire, which lasts for a week, so that it can collect information about the Israeli prisoners.
Hamas also insists on “an Israeli and international commitment to move forward to complete the deal (that is, Tel Aviv not being satisfied with the first phase), ending the war, and withdrawing the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip.”
According to what informed Israeli sources reported to the media recently, Israel is seeking a deal that is actually divided into two parts: a humanitarian deal (which includes women, female soldiers, the wounded, and the elderly), and then a deal that may lead to the end of the war and the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip.
During the past months, Hamas repeatedly confirmed its readiness to conclude an agreement, and announced its approval last May of a proposal presented by US President Joe Biden, but Netanyahu backed down from it by putting forward new conditions, most notably the continuation of the genocidal war and failure to withdraw the army from Gaza.
The opposition and families of Israeli prisoners accuse Netanyahu of obstructing reaching an agreement to maintain his position, as extremist ministers, including Ministers of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, threaten to leave and topple the government if it accepts ending the genocide in Gaza.
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