“We must not talk nonsense… Today, the truth is that the war objectives have not been achieved in the Gaza Strip.” In an interview given to the Israeli television channel Channel 12 Thursday, January 18, Minister Gadi Eisenkot publicly exposed his disagreements about the objectives of the war waged by the IDF in the Gaza Strip. “It is not realistic to speak of a complete victory against Hamas,” declared this former chief of staff, according to comments reported by the Times of Israel.
A member of the centrist opposition, Gadi Eisenkot urgently joined Netanyahu’s war cabinet, formed in the context of national unity following the October 7 attack. But he does not hide his disagreements with the way in which the Israeli Prime Minister runs the country, and called on Thursday evening to call legislative elections in the coming months. “The Israeli voter must return to the polls in order to restore confidence, because at the moment, it has disappeared,” he argued.
Gadi Eisenkot is present on the right in this photo, taken in 2015 near the Gaza Strip, alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon
© / afp.com/HAIM HORENSTEIN
Request for early elections
A request from the opposition to which Benjamin Netanyahu categorically refuses. “Mr. Eisenkot’s words contrast sharply with those of Mr. Netanyahu, who promised at his own press conference late Thursday to continue the fight with all necessary force until total victory over the Hamas”, thus analyzes the Financial Times.
The Israeli Prime Minister is in fact committed to destroying the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas, but he is the subject of criticism – starting from his American ally – for his lack of long-term political vision of the Palestinian question, and on the large number of civilian casualties caused by the IDF intervention in Gaza.
In an updated report this Saturday, January 20, the Gaza Health Ministry run by Hamas reported nearly 25,000 deaths in the enclave since the start of hostilities – figures that cannot be verified from an independent source. For their part, the Arab states are trying to reach an agreement on a ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages, but in exchange for political measures aimed at moving towards the creation of a Palestinian state.
Faced with the international pressure exerted on Israel, Gadi Eisenkot criticized the government: “I am no longer at the stage or at the age where we blindly trust this or that leader. I judge people on their decisions and the way they run the country,” he said, suggesting that the positions taken by Benjamin Netanyahu endangered Israel’s national security.
Disagreement over hostages
He explains in particular how he and the leader of his party, Benny Gantz, also a member of the war cabinet, would have opposed the opening of a new front with Hezbollah on the Lebanese border at the start of the war, which would have provoked immense losses for the IDF. The latter is already experiencing “the most serious losses since the creation of the State”, added Gadi Eisenkot, again according to the Times. The minister himself lost his son, aged 25, and his nephew, 19, both engaged in Gaza.
Also at the center of tensions within the war cabinet: the fate of the approximately 130 hostages captured on October 7. Where Benyamin Netanyahu believes that “only continued military pressure” will lead to their release, reports the Financial Times, Gadi Eisenkot pleads for the negotiation of a new truce. “We should courageously say that it is impossible to bring back the hostages alive in the near future without an agreement,” he said, as voices were raised in Israel among hostage families in favor of an agreement with the Islamist movement.
A war cabinet ready to implode
Gadi Eisenkot is not the only one to have expressed reservations about the strategic vagueness of the military operation in Gaza. Before him, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who for his part defends a more vigorous pursuit of the war, had criticized the government’s indecision. For its part, the extreme right of Itamar Ben-Gvir campaigns for ethnic cleansing and the recolonization of the Gaza Strip.
Alongside Benny Gantz and Benyamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant constitutes one of the pillars of a war cabinet crossed by immense tensions, according to the Jerusalem Post. “The emergency government is close to collapse” and “the question is no longer whether there will be early elections in 2024, but when,” the newspaper continues.
“The popularity of Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud and most of his coalition allies has collapsed in opinion polls since the Hamas attack, with Mr. Gantz’s party now well ahead,” analyzes for his part, Financial Times.