Widespread protests against the bombing campaign from citizens who fear it will make the recovery of the remaining hostages impossible are compounded by the prime minister’s recent decision to fire domestic security chief Ronen Bar, chief of the Israel Security Agency, also known as Shin Bet, over an “ongoing lack of trust.” Israel’s top court blocked Bar’s termination on Friday pending a hearing on the issue, which must be convened by April 8.

Netanyahu made his position clear in a Saturday address: “Ronen Bar will not remain head of the Shin Bet. There will not be a civil war, and Israel will remain a democratic state.”

At the center of the feud between Netanyahu and Shin Bet is the intelligence agency’s report on the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas — an incident Shin Bet attributes to both its own failures and “a policy of quiet [that] had enabled Hamas to undergo massive military buildup.”

Bar asserted in a public letter Thursday that the government terminated his position out of “personal interest” to “prevent investigations into the events leading up to October 7 and other serious matters.”

Shin Bet claims that prior to the release of its Oct. 7 report, it was already investigating concerns that officials in the prime minister’s office were taking money from the Qatari government to further the Muslim country’s interests.

The fine details of the investigation have not yet been disclosed but allegedly surround accusations that officials in the prime minister’s office were receiving a salary from Qatar while simultaneously handling classified materials in their governmental role.

Israeli authorities have already detained two Netanyahu advisers for questioning on suspicion of contacting a foreign agent, fraud, money laundering, and bribery — Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein.

Despite the prime minister’s best efforts to strong-arm Bar out of government unilaterally, the Supreme Court’s decision to halt his expulsion is being enforced by other government institutions.

“It is prohibited to take any action that harms the position of the head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar,” Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a message to Netanyahu. “It is prohibited to appoint a new head of Shin Bet, and interviews for the position should not be held.”

In response, Netanyahu’s cabinet passed a no-confidence motion against Baharav-Miara on Sunday — a legally dubious decision that will likely drag out in courts similar to the termination of Bar.

The attorney general said Netanyahu and his Cabinet are aiming to place themselves “above the law, to act without checks and balances, even at the most sensitive of times.”

Reacting to the turmoil, President Isaac Herzog said Thursday that it is “impossible not to be deeply troubled by the harsh reality unfolding before our eyes,” though he refrained from referring to Netanyahu by name.

“Unfortunately, we are witnessing a series of unilateral actions, and I am deeply concerned about their impact on our national resilience,” said Herzog. “I demand that every step be carefully considered and examined to see whether it contributes to national resilience, and especially whether it contributes to the war effort and the return of the hostages.”

The public war between several of Israel’s highest institutional authorities is provoking massive upset among the public, some of whom see it as an existential battle for the country’s fundamental rule of law.

Protesters gathering outside the parliament and the prime minister’s private residence, demonstrating against the termination of Bar and Baharav-Miara, which they characterized as an attack on Israeli democracy, were blasted with water cannons and blinded by tear gas as police cracked down this week.

A Channel 12 poll published Friday — just a day after Netanyahu’s government moved to fire Bar — found that 63% of respondents were concerned about the future of Israeli democracy.

“There will be no civil war! The state of Israel is a state of law, and according to the law, the government of Israel decides who will be the head of the Shin Bet,” Netanyahu said on social media amid the outrage.

Less than 50 miles away, the Israeli military continues pounding the Gaza Strip after resuming its war campaign on Tuesday.

“If all the Israeli hostages are not released and Hamas is not expelled from Gaza, Israel will act with an intensity that you have not seen,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said the day following the resumption of hostilities.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry claims that over 50,000 inhabitants have been killed since the conflict began. Ismail Barhoum, a senior finance official for Hamas, was among the individuals killed in the most recent bombardments.

But international humanitarian organizations are outraged at the apparent lack of discrimination concerning targets.

“We’ve seen over the past couple of days over 200 children killed,” UNICEF communications official Rosalia Bollen claimed to Al Jazeera on Sunday. “Hundreds more injured, including with very severe injuries, with burns over their bodies, with shrapnel lodged inside their bodies, with fractures, children who’ve lost limbs, and children who’ve lost their parents and their siblings.”

President Donald Trump is supportive of the renewed offensive after previously warning Hamas that there would be “hell to pay” if they failed to release all hostages, both Israeli and American.

Egyptian officials are reportedly distributing drafts of a new ceasefire proposal to Israeli and Hamas representatives, hoping to restore peace.

The new proposal would reportedly allow humanitarian aid to return to the Gaza Strip, swap five living hostages for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel, and establish a weekslong cessation of hostilities.