GAZA: Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz on Sunday announced his resignation after the rescue of four captives from war-torn Gaza in a raid that Palestinians say killed hundreds.
Gantz's resignation is the latest sign of sharpening domestic dissent over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the eight-month war, and is the first major political blow to him during the conflict.
It came after special forces fought gun battles with Palestinian groups on Saturday in central Gaza's crowded Nuseirat refugee camp area as they swooped in to free the four captives.
The Israeli military said the extraction team and captives came under heavy gun and grenade fire, which killed one police officer, while Israel's air force launched strikes that reduced nearby buildings to rubble.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said 274 people were killed and 698 wounded, in what it labelled the "Nuseirat massacre", figures that could not be independently verified.
Among those were at least 64 children, 57 women and 37 elderly people, the ministry said.
"People were screaming -- young and old, women and men," said Nuseirat resident Muhannad Thabet, 35. "Everyone wanted to flee the place, but the bombing was intense and anyone who moved was at risk of being killed due to the heavy bombardment and gunfire."
Gantz's resignation comes after he had issued an ultimatum to Netanyahu to present a post-war plan for Gaza by June 8.
Netanyahu responded by telling Gantz it was "not the time to abandon the battle".
While Gantz's resignation will not bring the premier's right-wing government down, it reflects growing domestic pressure over Netanyahu's failure to return remaining hostages.
A senior military commander, Brigadier General Avi Rosenfeld, also resigned on Sunday over what he called his failure to prevent the October 7 attack.
Palestinian Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said that other captives were killed during the rescue operation, and warned that conditions would worsen for the remaining captives.
Dozens were exchanged in a November truce for Palestinian prisoners. After Saturday's rescue operation, 116 captives remain in Gaza, although the army says 41 of them are dead. — AFP
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