With Israel’s war Cabinet gone, who’s left in Netanyahu’s inner circle?

JERUSALEM - Having dissolved his war Cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel will rely on an informal group of a few of his closest advisers in making important decisions about the war in the Gaza Strip, analysts say.

Mr Netanyahu created

the war Cabinet

, an influential five-person body, soon after the Hamas-led attacks in October 2023 prompted Israel to go to war in Gaza.

Two former military chiefs of staff, Mr Benny Gantz and Mr Gadi Eisenkot, members of the centrist opposition to the right-wing government, joined the group, giving it an air of consensus and credibility among Israelis.

But the two former generals

resigned last week

, and Mr Netanyahu has not said whether he will reconstitute the war Cabinet.

His group of close advisers now lacks the political breadth and military experience the war Cabinet had, and the stature of Mr Gantz, one of Mr Netanyahu’s chief political rivals.

Here is a look at whom he is likely to turn to:

Yoav Gallant: Mr Gallant, the defence minister and a former general, had been in the war Cabinet. He is a member of Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party but has occasionally broken with the Prime Minister. In 2023, amid mass protests against a government plan to overhaul the judiciary, Mr Gallant said the plan threatened national security, with many reservists vowing to refuse service if the plan became law. Mr Netanyahu fired him, then reinstated him two weeks later. In 2024, Mr Gallant has pushed for a specific plan for governing post-war Gaza, something the Israeli leader has resisted doing.

Ron Dermer: One of Mr Netanyahu’s closest advisers, Mr Dermer is a former Israeli ambassador to Washington who had been a non-voting “observer” member of the war Cabinet. He currently serves as Israel’s minister for strategic affairs, and he worked on Israel’s attempts to normalise ties with Saudi Arabia and to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.

Tzachi Hanegbi: Mr Hanegbi is Mr Netanyahu’s national security adviser, and Israeli media reports said that he was likely to be part of a limited group of officials making sensitive decisions about the war. In May, Mr Hanegbi said that he expected military operations in Gaza to continue through at least the end of the year.

Aryeh Deri: Israeli media said that Mr Deri, the leader of an ultra-Orthodox Sephardic party and a close ally of the Prime Minister, would be part of that limited group. Mr Deri is a contentious figure. In 2023, months before the war began, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that he was not fit to serve as a senior minister in Mr Netanyahu’s government because he had been convicted of tax fraud.

Two prominent right-wing politicians with hawkish views on the war, Mr Itamar Ben-Gvir and Mr Bezalel Smotrich, would not be part of the smaller group advising Mr Netanyahu.

Mr Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, has demanded to be included in the war Cabinet, and analysts said that Mr Netanyahu dissolved it in part to prevent that from happening. Both Mr Ben-Gvir and Mr Smotrich remain, however, part of a broader security Cabinet that makes some decisions about the war. NYTIMES