Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp has resigned after a cabinet meeting failed to agree on sanctions against Israel, AFP reports.

The centre-right New Social Contract Party, of which Veldkamp is a member, withdrew from the governing coalition after the resignation, adding to growing political chaos in the country. Veldkamp had said on Thursday that he wanted new measures against Israel over its iron-fisted tactics in Gaza.

After the cabinet became deadlocked yesterday over possible new measures to increase pressure on Israel, Veldkamp told ANP he was “insufficiently able to take meaningful additional measures”.

“I feel constrained in setting the course I consider necessary as foreign minister,” he added.

Veldkamp said the further steps he had proposed against Israel were “seriously discussed” but that he had encountered resistance in successive cabinet meetings.