More than 100 days into Israel’s quest to “destroy Hamas”, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being challenged by members of his own war cabinet about strategy, pressured by Washington over post-war Gaza plans and hemmed in by his far-right ministers, Reuters reports.

With the prime minister’s political survival at stake, he is also facing demands to stick to the tough line from his far-right coalition partners, some of whom have threatened to bring down the government if he wavers.

Already walking a tricky diplomatic tightrope between Washington and his hard-right coalition government, Netanyahu will likely be challenged further when the more intense fighting phase starts to end.

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has said Israel’s Arab and Muslim neighbours could be prepared to more fully integrate Israel in the region, but they would also need to see a commitment to a pathway to a Palestinian state. But top-level Israeli discussions on who runs Gaza after the crisis have been repeatedly deferred amid political infighting.

The various post-conflict visions are so divergent as to make convening another such discussion “problematic”.

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