The Israeli war cabinet was formed on 11 October 2023, five days after the beginning of the Israel–Hamas war. The opposition party National Unity joined the thirty-seventh government led by Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister. Negotiations began immediately after the outbreak of the war. The war cabinet consists of Netanyahu; Yoav Gallant, the minister of defense; and former Chief of the General Staff, Benny Gantz. There are three observers, Gadi Eizenkot, Ron Dermer and Aryeh Deri.

An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place chiefly in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023. Clashes have also occurred in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and with Hezbollah along the Israel–Lebanon–Golan Heights border. The fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008, it is part of the broader Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and the most significant military engagement in the region since the Yom Kippur War 50 years earlier.