Israel’s military chief warned against a full takeover of Gaza, according to three Israeli sources familiar with the discussions, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considers ordering the “conquest’ of the besieged territory.
In a meeting with top officials on Tuesday evening, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir cautioned that fully conquering Gaza would trap the military within the enclave and put the remaining hostages at risk, the sources said.
Such a move, Zamir said, would also increase the burden on Israeli forces when the military is already suffering from attrition and burnout rates amongst reservist forces.
According to two of the sources, Zamir’s plan called for encircling Gaza City and other neighbourhoods in which hostages might be held, while Netanyahu was pushing for a more intrusive operation into the heart of the areas.
Netanyahu will urge a meeting of the security cabinet Thursday to support the full “conquest of the Strip”, CNN has previously reported, in what would mark a major escalation of the Israeli campaign at a time when the government is under international pressure for a truce.
Also Read: Israeli ex-officials demand immediate Gaza ceasefire
The latest disagreement underscores the growing discord between Israel’s military leadership and its political echelon. Israel’s military has recommended pursuing diplomacy to end the war, while Netanyahu and his government have pushed for maximalist war goals.
The Israeli military says it already controls approximately 75% of Gaza following nearly two years of war which has left much of the territory in ruins and triggered a humanitarian crisis. Israel withdrew from Gaza two decades ago, but Zamir warned that a complete military occupation could ensnare the IDF anew.
Zamir’s warning once again put the new military chief at odds with the far-right parties in Israel’s government, who have repeatedly called for broadening Israel’s bombardment and siege of Gaza to destroy Hamas, something Israel has been unable to do despite nearly two years of fighting.
Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded on social media that Zamir explicitly state “in his own voice” that he will follow the country’s political leadership, “even if a decision is made regarding conquest and decisive action.”
After Tuesday’s meeting, the Prime Minister’s Office issued an official statement stating that, “the IDF is prepared to implement any decision made by the Security Cabinet.”
On Wednesday, Netanyahu also met with the leader of Israel’s opposition, Yair Lapid, who issued a video statement afterwards calling the conquest of Gaza “a very bad idea.”
“You don’t embark on such a move unless most of the nation is behind you,” said Lapid. The people of Israel are not interested in this war – we will pay to have a price for it.”
Polling has repeatedly shown that most Israelis favor an end to the war in exchange for the release of the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza.
Starvation crisis
Gaza’s health ministry meanwhile reported its highest death toll in weeks on Wednesday, with 138 killed in the past 24 hours.
Five people died of hunger in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said Wednesday, bringing the total number of those who died of starvation and malnutrition to 193, including 96 children.
Only 1.5% of Gaza’s farmland can be accessed and is undamaged as of July 28, United Nations data has found, underscoring “the tiny amount of cultivable land that remains in the Gaza Strip” amid the starvation crisis in the enclave.
Aid groups say only a fraction of the required aid has been getting into the crowded and war-devastated enclave. A major focus of aid group criticism has been a controversial US and Israel-backed aid distribution network called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The GHF was created to sideline the United Nations’ role in distributing aid, after Israel complained that UN aid was reaching and being stolen by Hamas. An internal US government review found no evidence of widespread theft by Hamas, CNN reported in July, contradicting the State Department’s claims that were used to justify backing GHF. The new group has also been criticized for failing to improve conditions as Gaza’s starvation crisis deepens.
The UN refused to participate in the new scheme, saying the GHF model violates basic humanitarian principles. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while trying to get food, hundreds of them near GHF sites, according to the UN. The GHF disputes this.
For two months, the scenes at GHF’s four distribution sites have been chaotic, with the Israeli military seen firing towards scores of Palestinians, some of whom have been crushed in the scramble to reach aid.
Multiple UN experts earlier this week called for the GHF network to be dismantled.
The US has dismissed the criticism. Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, visited a GHF run site last week and said on Wednesday that the network would expand.
“The immediate plan is to scale up the number of sites up to 16 and begin to operate them as much as 24 hours a day,” he told Fox News interview.
“The president has been telling us he wants foods into the hands of hungry people but he wants it in a way that it doesn’t get into the hands of Hamas. That’s exactly what we did when we stood up GHF,” he added.
CNN has reached out to GHF for comment on Huckabee’s comments.
COGAT, the Israeli agency responsible for bringing aid into Gaza, said close to 300 trucks entered Gaza and were collected and distributed by the UN and international organizations on Tuesday, adding that 110 pallets of aid were airdropped in cooperation with the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Germany, Canada and Belgium.
However, the Hamas-controlled Media Office said that only 84 trucks made it into the enclave on Tuesday, adding that the strip needs at least 600 relief and fuel trucks daily to meet the basic needs of the population.
Reported by CNN
