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Israel's Gantz breaks foot in bike ride accident

April 29, 2024 at 3:50 pm

Former Minister of Defense, and government and war cabinet member, Benny Gantz attends a meeting with the press in Ramot Naftali, Israel on October 29, 2023 [Amir Levy/Getty Images]

Israeli War Cabinet Minister, Benny Gantz, was hospitalised on Monday after he broke his foot during a bike ride, according to local media, Anadolu Agency reports.

The cycling accident occurred near Yad Mordechai settlement in southern Israel, the public broadcaster KAN reported.

Gantz, the leader of the centrist National Unity Party, was admitted to hospital for testing, his office said.

He is expected to be released home later Monday.

The incident came days after far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, had a car accident in central Israel on Friday.

Gantz, a former defence minister, joined the emergency government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the Hamas attack on 7 October, 2023, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

Nearly 34,500 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 77,600 others injured in a deadly Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85 per cent of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which, in January, issued an interim ruling that ordered it to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

READ: Gantz threatens to topple Israel’s gov’t if hostage deal blocked