Israel’s Netanyahu, fending off critics, says there’s ‘clear unity of purpose’ with defence chiefs

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moved to dampen media pressure over the government's conduct of the war against the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza, issuing a statement insisting he was in full accord with his defence and army chiefs. Netanyahu, Israel's longest serving prime minister, has seen his already falling approval ratings plunge following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which killed some 1,400 people in the deadliest day for Israel in its 75-year history. On Monday, amid growing expectations of an imminent ground operation against Hamas in Gaza, Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's largest circulation newspaper, published a stinging attack on the government, saying that a "crisis of confidence" had developed between Netanyahu and the army leadership.