Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday hinted at wider military action in Gaza, even as former Israeli army and intelligence officials called for an end to the war.
Netanyahu convened his security Cabinet to direct the military on the war’s next stage, hinting that even tougher action was possible.
Among those speaking out were former leaders of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service, the Mossad spy agency and the military — and also former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak.
Photo: Reuters
In a video posted to social media this week, they said that some members of the government were holding Israel “hostage” in prolonging the conflict.
Netanyahu’s objectives in Gaza are “a fantasy,” former Shin Bet director Yoram Cohen said in the video. “If anyone imagines that we can reach every terrorist and every pit and every weapon, and in parallel bring our hostages home — I think it is impossible.”
The Cabinet meeting ended without any announcements about Israel’s plans.
US President Donald Trump, asked by a reporter whether he supported the reoccupation of Gaza, said he was not aware of the “suggestion,” but that “it’s going to be pretty much up to Israel.”
Netanyahu said that his objectives include defeating Hamas, releasing all 50 remaining hostages and ensuring that Gaza never again threatens Israel after the Hamas-led 2023 attack sparked the war.
Israeli media reported disagreements between Netanyahu and Israeli Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, head of the army, on how to proceed.
The reports, citing anonymous officials in Netanyahu’s office, said that the prime minister was pushing the army, which controls about three-quarters of Gaza, to conquer the entire territory.
Israeli officials did not respond to requests for comment on the reports.
In Gaza City, the civil defense agency yesterday said that 20 people were killed when an aid truck overturned on a crowd in the central Gaza Strip.
“Twenty people were killed and dozens injured around midnight last night [when] a truck carrying aid overturned ... while hundreds of civilians were waiting for aid,” agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told reporters.
The incident took place near the Nuseirat refugee camp as the truck was driving on an unsafe road that Israel had previously bombed, Bassal said.
The Israeli military said that it was looking into the reports.
Hamas accused Israel of forcing truck drivers to take dangerous routes to reach aid distribution centers, and to “intentionally engineer ... starvation and chaos.”
Israel “forces drivers to navigate routes overcrowded with starving civilians who have been waiting for weeks for the most basic necessities,” Hamas’ media office said in a statement.
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