Hamas conflict: Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz gives June 8 Gaza ultimatum to Benjamin Netanyahu, threatens to resign

He has set June 8 as the deadline for the government to meet six "strategic goals" which include the end of the Hamas rule in Gaza.

"If you put the national over personal, you will find in us partners in the struggle," he was quoted as saying by BBC.

He said: "But if you choose the path of fanatics and lead the entire nation to the abyss, we will be forced to quit the government."

Meanwhile, in his remark, PM Benjamin Netanyahu accused his coalition partner of 'issuing an ultimatum to the prime minister instead of issuing an ultimatum to Hamas', reported The Times of Israel.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces on Friday said the bodies of three hostages have been recovered from the Gaza strip.

The recovered people were identified as Shani Louk, Amit Buskila, and Itzhak Gelerenter.

The IDF said they were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas 'terrorists' on October 7 from the Nova Music Festival.

"Overnight, our troops recovered their bodies and brought them back home to Israel," IDF said in a statement.

Roughly 800,000 people have been forced to flee Rafah since Israel launched a military operation in the area on 6 May, the head of UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA said on Saturday in a renewed appeal for greater protection of civilians in Gaza, safe humanitarian access and, ultimately, a ceasefire.

“Once again, nearly half of the population of Rafah or 800,000 people are on the road,” Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote in post on the social media platform X.

He said that following evacuation orders demanding people to flee to so-called safe zones, people mainly went to the middle areas in Gaza and Khan Younis, including to destroyed buildings.