Israel's war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has resigned from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's emergency government.
Mr Gantz last month gave the leader a June 8th deadline to present a clear 'day-after' plan for the conflict in Palestine.
On Sunday, he said leaving the government was a "complex and painful" decision.
His resignation comes a day after four Israeli hostages were rescued in an operation which the armed wing of Hamas - the militant group running Gaza - said also killed three other hostages.
In a post on Telegram earlier on Sunday, the militant group said one of the captives killed was a US citizen.
The rescue operation involved a devastating raid at the Nuseirat refugee camp, which claimed the lives of 274 Palestinians, Gaza's health ministry said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a meeting of the right-wing bloc members at the Knesset. Image: Oded Balilty/AP/Press Association ImagesThe departure of Mr Gantz's centrist party is unlikely to pose an immediate threat to Mr Netanyahu's governing coalition - which controls 64 of parliament's 120 seats there.
The move could have a serious impact as Mr Netanyahu would lose the backing of a centrist bloc that has helped broaden support for the government in Israel and abroad.
It comes at a time of increasing diplomatic and domestic pressure eight months into the Gaza war.
Israel launched a retaliatory military campaign on Gaza on October 7th, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took about 250 hostages.
More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed since, according to the enclave's Hamas-run health ministry.
The war cabinet minister's resignation will see Mr Netanyahu having to rely more heavily on the political backing of ultra-nationalist parties.
Those party leaders had angered the US even before the war and they have since called for a return to a complete Israeli occupation of Gaza.
Reporting by: IRN
