via timesofisrael:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Unity party leader Benny Gantz announced a landmark agreement on Wednesday to establish an emergency wartime government, some four days after Hamas launched a brutal and unprecedented assault on Israel early Saturday that claimed the lives of over 1,200 Israelis, the single deadliest day in the country’s history.
The establishment of the new government — an unthinkable prospect mere days ago amid long months of bitter national divisions over Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plans — underscored the extent of the shock the nation has suffered and the degree to which politicians and the entire country have been unnerved by the sudden severe threat to national security.
Until Saturday, Gantz had fervently opposed any potential entry into the current government, Israel’s most far-right ever. But he and other opposition members had since changed their tune, saying all internal disagreements needed to be set aside to project a unified front to Israel’s enemies, as well as offer confidence in the leadership to soldiers fighting on the battlefield.