JERUSALEM ¨C Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was publicly challenged about post-war plans for the Gaza Strip on Wednesday by his own defense chief, who vowed to oppose any long-term military rule by Israel over the ravaged Palestinian enclave.
The televised statement by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant marked the most vocal dissent from within Israel¡¯s top echelon against Netanyahu during a multi-front conflict that has set off political fissures at home and abroad.
Netanyahu hinted, in a riposte that did not explicitly name Gallant, that the retired admiral was making ¡°excuses¡± for not yet having destroyed Hamas in a conflict now in its eighth month.
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