Israel announces national unity government as it tightens Gaza siege

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Israel has formed an emergency war cabinet and unity government as it tightens its siege of the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected ground offensive.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed the deal on Wednesday with Benny Gantz, head of the opposition National Unity party and a former general, in the wake of Saturday’s deadly attack by Hamas.

Some opposition figures had previously demanded that Netanyahu drop hard-right members of his coalition.

The emergency government would serve for the duration of the war and, while the conflict lasts, no legislation will proceed that does not concern it.

The war cabinet will have three members: Netanyahu, Gantz, and defence minister Yoav Gallant. Strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer and Gadi Eisenkot, a member of Gantz’s party and former military chief, will serve as observers.

The agreement came as Gaza lost its electricity supply, leaving residents alarmed that they would soon lose contact with the outside world.

Israel has cut off electricity, fuel and water to the Hamas-controlled territory and the enclave’s only power station has now run out of fuel, bringing down the mains supply.

“Their local power station has collapsed and there is no electricity in Gaza,” said Israel Katz, energy minister. “We will continue to tighten the siege until the Hamas threat to Israel and the world is removed. What was will not be.”

The death toll in Israel has reached 1,200 and the military said the figure would continue to rise with more discoveries of bodies of civilians killed by the Hamas fighters who breached the Gaza border.

A large but still uncounted number of bodies was discovered on Tuesday in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz that abuts the border with the Gaza Strip and was among the last Israeli locations to be secured. The Israeli military described the site as a “massacre”.

Palestinian health authorities say 1,055 people have been killed by the Israeli bombardment of the enclave, which is home to 2.3mn people, since Saturday’s incursion.

The combined death toll reported by Israelis and Palestinians now surpasses 2,000, not including the bodies of 1,500 Hamas fighters that Israel says it has retrieved.

Israel has also mobilised 360,000 reservists as it prepares for the widely expected ground operation in Gaza, from which it withdrew in 2005 and which Hamas has controlled since 2007.

“We have sent our infantry, armoured soldiers, our artillery corps and many other soldiers from the reserves,” said Jonathan Conricus, an IDF spokesperson. “They are now close to the Gaza Strip, getting ready to execute the mission that they have been given.”

The Israeli army also said the first cargo plane carrying “advanced armaments” from the US “designed to facilitate significant military operations” landed at Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel on Tuesday night.

Washington is sending ammunition and interceptors to replenish the Iron Dome air defence system that Israel relies on to neutralise rocket attacks.

In a White House speech on Tuesday, US president Joe Biden said Israel had both the “right” and a “duty” to respond to the Hamas attack, which he described as “sheer evil”. He added that at least 14 Americans had been killed, vowing that the US would “stand with Israel”.

The US has also moved a naval carrier strike group, including its largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, from near Italy to the eastern Mediterranean to deter the Iran-backed Hizbollah militant group in Lebanon, and carry out surveillance in support of Israel.

Israel shelled Lebanon for the fourth successive day on Wednesday, exchanging fire with Hizbollah. The IDF says the country is at war on three fronts, since shells from Syria have also landed in Israel.

Conricus added that the “dozens” of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza included many people with dual nationalities, including US, UK, French, German and Ukrainian passport holders.

Israel said it had hit more than 2,300 “Hamas targets” in the blockaded territory, while more than 4,500 rockets had been fired from Gaza.

The UN estimates that nearly 300,000 Palestinians have been displaced within Gaza, with many rushing to UN-run schools and refugee camps to seek shelter from the Israeli bombardment. Its Palestinian relief agency said on Wednesday that so far nine UN staffers had been killed in air strikes.

The UN will ask donors for $200mn in emergency funding to house and feed the internally displaced, a western diplomat said.

Netanyahu has suggested that civilians “leave” the 40-km strip, stoking concern in neighbouring Egypt. The US is discussing safe passage for civilians with its regional allies, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday, without providing details.