Benny Gantz, a centrist political rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is meeting with several senior U.S. administration officials in Washington this week.
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - NOVEMBER 28: Israeli Minister of Defence and National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz before a party meeting in the Israeli on November 28, 2022 in Jerusalem, Israel. An alliance led by the party of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won comfortably in the recent parliamentary election, the country's fifth in under four years.
The scheduled meetings coincide with talks currently underway in Egypt in the hopes of brokering a ceasefire in Gaza before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins next week.
Gantz allegedly did not receive approval from Netayanu to arrange for the meetings, according to an official from Netanyahu's far-right Likud party, conveying the increase in divide within Israel's wartime leadership nearly six months into the Israel-Hamas war.
The Israeli official reported Israel did not send a delegation to the ceasefire talks in Cairo as it currently waits for answers from Hamas on two important questions. The government is expecting to learn which of the hostages seized by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack are still alive and how many Palestinian prisoners Hamas seeks in exchange for each.
U.S. News revealed a quarter of Gaza's 2.3 million people face starvation per a U.N. report. The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has skyrocketed well above 30,000 since the war erupted in October.
On Monday, U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Turk described the conflict as a "powder keg" with a high probability of igniting a much broader struggle in the Middle East."
The war in Gaza has already generated dangerous spillover in neighboring countries," he said in his global update to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
"I am deeply concerned that in this powder keg, any spark could lead to a much broader conflagration. This would have implications for every country in the Middle East and many beyond it.
Citing recent hostilities in Yemen and Lebanon, he explained overlapping conflicts are especially real and worrying as the Gaza War has had a widening effect.
"The military escalation in southern Lebanon between Israel, Hezbollah, and other armed groups is extremely worrying," Turk said.
"Make Every Moment of Ramadan A Confrontation"
In the interim, Hamas is counting on Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank to rise up against Israel during the holy month.
Osama Hamdan, a spokesman for Hamas, told reporters in Beirut today that Palestinians should "make every moment of Ramadan a confrontation."
For weeks now, the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt have been working to facilitate a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, emphasizing the release of hostages Hamas is still holding.
The holy month of Ramadan is due to begin around March 10, accelerating vital need for the three countries to broker a truce in time.
The month-long observation is a time of heightened prayer, reflection, and charity for Muslims around the world. However, Israeli-Palestinian tensions constantly flare up over access to a major holy site in Jerusalem.
Hamas has continually called for a broader uprising in the occupied West Bank, especially following the surge of violence in the territory since the start of the war.
No specifics were provided by Hamas about the ongoing ceasefire negotiations.
While addressing his comments to Israel and its closest ally, the United States, Hamdan said, "What they have not gained on the battlefield, they will not gain through political machinations."
