Before the IDF launched its attack on Gaza City this month, the head of the Israeli military attempted to warn Benjamin Netanyahu’s government that the operation lacked a “political endgame” and it would endanger the lives of the hostages.
Israeli Channel 13 reported that Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir hand-delivered a secret memo to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before that attack on Gaza City began. “IDF fighters are returning to the same places without a political purpose,” it said. “The operational actions endanger the hostages — whose condition is deteriorating.”
The military operation in Gaza City has involved a massive bombing campaign, a slow-moving ground offensive, and demanding that all one million Palestinians in the area evacuate.
The family members of the 48 remaining Israeli captives in Gaza were outraged by the report. “According to the chief of staff himself, he is sending our children to die and be wounded without a purpose. Our children’s lives are not expendable,” they said in a statement. “This is the time for the parents of the fighters to stand up and stop this pointless war.”
Zamir’s primary criticism was that Netanyahu’s attack on Gaza City lacked a plan for how to replace Hamas in Gaza. He has repeatedly argued that Tel Aviv should agree to a hostage deal to save the lives of the remaining Israeli captives.
Thousands of Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli assault on Gaza City. The IDF has destroyed much of the infrastructure in the area and driven hundreds of thousands of Palestinians out of the city.
