TEL AVIV (Dispatches) — Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the war cabinet tasked with steering the genocide in Gaza, Zionist officials said Monday, a move that comes days after a key member of the body bolted the regime over frustrations surrounding the Israeli leader’s handling of the war.
The move was widely expected following the departure of Benny Gantz, a centrist former military chief, earlier this month. Gantz’s absence from the cabinet increases Netanyahu’s dependence on his extremist allies, who oppose a ceasefire.  
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that going forward Netanyahu would hold smaller forums with some of his cabinet members for sensitive issues surrounding the war. That includes his security cabinet, where far-right governing partners who oppose ceasefire deals and have voiced support for reoccupying Gaza, are members.
The war cabinet was formed in the early days of the war, when Gantz, then an opposition party leader and Netanyahu rival, joined the coalition following the Oct. 7 Hamas operation. He had demanded that a small decision-making body steer the war, in a bid to sideline far-right members of Netanyahu’s cabinet.
It was made up of three members — Gantz, Netanyahu and war minister Yoav Gallant — and together they made important decisions throughout the course of the war.
The move to scrap the war cabinet comes as Israel faces fierce resistance from Palestinian fighters.
On Monday, seven more Zionist soldiers were injured in either skirmishes with Palestinian resistance groups in Gaza or Lebanon’s Hezbollah group in the last 24 hours.
The Israeli military, in a statement, did not specify where the soldiers were injured, which is most likely in Gaza or during clashes with the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
The casualties came after 12 soldiers were killed in three separate, with 10 additional soldiers named on Sunday after two had been named already on Saturday.
According to Israeli military figures, at least 662 soldiers have been killed since October 7 of last year, with 311 killed following the launch of Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza on October 27.
Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal carnage in Gaza, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.
More than 37,300 Palestinians have since been martyred in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 85,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on 6 May.
Israel and Hamas are weighing the latest proposal for a ceasefire in exchange for the release of captives taken by Hamas during its attack. Zionist troops are still bogged down in the Gaza Strip, fighting in the southern city of Rafah and against pockets of Hamas resurgence elsewhere. And clashes continue unabated between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
Critics say Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making has been influenced by the ultranationalists in his regime and by his desire to remain in power.  
Gantz’s departure, while not posing a direct threat to Netanyahu’s rule, rocked Israeli politics at a sensitive time. He is now an opposition party leader in parliament.