Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Shas party said on Wednesday that its ministers will resign from Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, capping two days of walkouts that have deprived the prime minister of a parliamentary majority. Shas’s departure, which follows the exit of the seven-seat United Torah Judaism bloc, leaves the governing alliance controlling roughly 49–50 of the Knesset’s 120 seats. Shas, led by Aryeh Deri, is protesting the coalition’s failure to pass legislation that would entrench long-standing military draft exemptions for yeshiva students after the Supreme Court ordered an end to blanket deferments. While the party is quitting the government, it has signalled that it will not back opposition no-confidence motions for now, a stance that increases its leverage over Netanyahu without immediately toppling the coalition. Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, Health Minister Uriel Buso and other Shas members are expected to step down within 48 hours. Opposition leader Yair Lapid declared that Israel now has “a minority and illegitimate government” and called for an early election. A Channel 12 survey released after the Shas announcement shows Netanyahu’s Likud still leading with 27 projected seats, yet the poll suggests that an alliance of opposition parties could form a governing majority; 53 percent of respondents want a vote as soon as possible. Netanyahu may use the Knesset’s summer recess, which begins later this month, to try to broker a compromise on the conscription bill and lure the ultra-Orthodox factions back into the cabinet. The political turmoil comes as Israel approaches the 22-month mark of its Gaza war and weighs sensitive security and budget decisions that could be harder to pass under a minority administration.