The U.S. says "no other country is doing more to help Israel defend itself."
As the Israel-Hamas war continues, negotiations have stalled to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization, and Israeli forces continue to launch incursions in the southern Gazan town of Rafah ahead of a possible large-scale invasion.
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday that its soldiers have killed Muhammad Mustafa Ayoub, describing him as a "key operative" in Hezbollah’s rocket and missile department in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah confirmed Ayoub’s death in a brief statement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has disbanded his war cabinet, the small group of government officials who had been tasked with overseeing decisions about the war against Hamas, a spokesperson said.
The prime minister said there was "no more need for an extra branch of government," the spokesperson said.
-ABC News' Joe Simonetti
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government’s security cabinet will now make decisions about the war against Hamas, an Israeli official told ABC News.
Netanyahu is now expected to make critical decisions on the war during small ad hoc meetings while seeking final approval from the wider security cabinet.
The decision came about a week after one of three core members of Netanyahu’s war cabinet’s said he would resign from the influential body.
Israeli minister Benny Gantz on Sunday, June 9, said he would resign from both the coalition government led by Netanyahu and the prime minister’s war cabinet.
The war cabinet had been formed on Oct. 11, in the days following the Oct. 7 surprise terrorist attack by Hamas militants.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Kevin Shalvey
The Israeli political security cabinet "discussed steps to strengthen settlements in the West Bank, among other things, in response to countries that unilaterally recognized a Palestinian state after October 7," in a meeting on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Spain, Ireland and Norway recognized Palestine as a state at the end of May. Separately, 143 of the 193 members in the UN General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution stating that Palestinians qualify for full-member status at the United Nations at the beginning of May, according to the New York Times.
The cabinet also discussed "a series of reactions against the Palestinian Authority following its actions against Israel in international bodies," the statement added.
The Israeli minister of defense and the deputy prime minister "requested an additional period of time to make their comments," the statement says, and then the prime minister will "bring all the proposals to a vote at the next cabinet meeting."
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
