Israeli PM, culture minister implore Gantz not to resign from government
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on war cabinet minister Benny Gantz to remain in Israel’s emergency government. “This is the time for unity and not for division. We must remain united within ourselves in the face of the great tasks before us”, Netanyahu said in an X post.
Reports emerged in Israeli and US media that Gantz was to resign from Israel’s government today, after a deadline he imposed for the formulation of a post-war plan for Gaza elapsed.
Israel’s culture minister, Miki Zohar, echoed these calls, also in an X post. “Precisely and especially now, Gantz must remain in the government, for the sake of Israel’s future”, he wrote.
As the day comes to a close in Israel, Gantz has so far yet to resign.
UN chief says ‘scores of Palestinians’ killed since memorial to UN staff on Thursday
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has shared a post on X about a memorial to UN staff killed in 2023, held earlier this week.
Guterres noted that 135 of the “188 UN colleagues who lost their lives in the line of duty last year” worked for UNRWA, and said that this was “by far the highest number of our personnel killed in a single conflict”.
Guterres also noted that “scores of Palestinian civilians continued to be killed in Israeli military operations” since the memorial was held on Thursday.
“This horror must stop,” he said.
At the time of the wreath-laying memorial on Thursday, Guterres said the UN was unable to reach the family members of many UNRWA staff to confirm they gave consent for their names to be read out, “because they have either been killed or forced from their homes by Israeli military operations”.
This week we paid tribute to 188 @UN colleagues who lost their lives in the line of duty last year.
135 of them worked for @UNRWA - by far the highest number of our personnel killed in a single conflict.
Since this memorial scores of Palestinian civilians continued to be…
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) June 8, 2024
