JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the six-member war cabinet, an Israeli official said on Monday, in a widely expected move that came after the departure from government of the centrist formergeneral Benny Gantz.

Netanyahu is now expected to hold consultations aboutthe Gaza war with a small group of ministers, including DefenceMinister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermerwho had been in the war cabinet.

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The prime minister had faced demands from the nationalist-religious partners in his coalition, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, to be included in the war cabinet, a move which would have intensified strains with international partners including the United States.

The forum was formed after Gantz joined Netanyahu in a national unity government at the start of the war in October andalso included Gantz’s partner Gadi Eisenkot and Aryeh Deri, headof the religious party Shas, as observers.

Gantz and Eisenkot both left the government last week, overwhat they said was Netanyahu’s failure to form a strategy forthe Gaza war.