ISRAEL: Pressure Rising On PM Over Rafah Air Strike & Egyptian Soldier Death 2/2

The KAN story on the potential Netanyahu ouster claims that opposition Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid will meet with the heads of the Yisrael Beiteinu and New Hope parties to discuss the potential for an ouster of the PM. It also claims they will seek to bring current Security Cabinet member Benny Gantz into the coalition. Earlier in May, Gantz - a former chief of the IDF - said that he would resign from gov't on 8 June if Netanyahu had not put forward a workable plan for post-war Gaza. 

• While Netanyahu is facing major domestic pressure due to the failure so far to secure the release of hostages, and international pressure over the conduct of the IDF operations, importantly he has retained the support of Orthodox and ultranationalist parties. As such, even if Gantz were to pull his National Unity party's support, the gov't would still hold a majority in the Knesset. 
• Netanyahu's Likud, the Orthodox Shas and UTJ parties, and the ultranationalist  Mafdal–Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit and Noam parties all combined hold 64 out of 120 seats. As such, without an internal Likud effort to remove Netanyahu, or one of the smaller parties threatening to withdraw support, the PM remains in office.