Sources: Netanyahu Extends War in Gaza to Prevent New Government Led by  Lapid

Well-informed sources in the Likud political party governs in Israel revealed to Maariv,  an Israeli daily newspaper, that there are fears that the chairman of the party and Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu has planned to extend the war in the Gaza Strip for narrow political purposes.

The wide-circulated newspaper quoted a high profile counselor in the Likud as saying that  PM extends the period of the military operation in Gaza because his competitor Yair Lapid, chairman of Yesh Atid (in Hebrew it means: There is a Future)  party, was tasked by Israel’s President to form the new government.

Netanyahu has failed four times to form a coalition after four legislative elections in less than two years.

The counselor of the Likud went on to say that Netanyahu has no real intention to annihilate Hamas at all.

But the last confrontations in the Gaza Strip, in Al-Quds (known in the Western and Israeli sources as Jerusalem), and the Arab-Jews mixed cities behind the Green Line, left negative fallouts on relations between the two sides.

He indicated that Netanyahu seeks to go to the fifth legislative election and takes Israel with him as a hostage.

He unveiled that the defeat that inflicted Naftali  Bennett, chairman of Yamina (in Hebrew means towards the Right)   over the talks with Lapid revived hopes of Netanyahu to form the new government in Israel.

Another rightist officials told Maariv that Netanyahu convinced that the current conflict with Hamas and other Palestinian resistant groups in the Gaza Strip, may help him improve his image at the Israeli public if the fifth election within two years becomes the last resort to find a path out of the political impasse.

The officials pointed out that Netanyahu bets on the possible dismantling of the Yamina party.

However, the chairman of Yamina has suspended his negotiations with Yair Lapid as he returned to negotiate again with Netanyahu to form the new government.