Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the country’s War Cabinet, which had been overseeing Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The move comes a week after Benny Gantz, one of Netanyahu’s rivals who had been a member of the Cabinet, removed his party from the country’s emergency government due to disagreements over planned postwar governance in Gaza. (The Guardian)
The War Cabinet’s dissolution also comes after a week in which Lebanon-based Hezbollah launched the largest volley of rockets and drones across the border with Israel since the war in Gaza began. Yesterday, the Israeli military said the cross-border attacks could trigger a serious escalation of that conflict, which has so far remained relatively low level. (Reuters)
Our Take
The most striking part of this flurry of breaking news stories is that they will likely have little effect on the ground. In fact, since Israel’s military operations in Gaza began more than eight months ago, the paradox embedded in coverage of the conflict has been that each major new development appears to change very little substantively, whether on the ground in Gaza, in the conflict with Hezbollah or in Israeli domestic politics.