This week, growing divisions between Israel’s military commanders and the civilian government over the war in Gaza have raised questions about how Israel will conduct the next phase of the war.
The rift has quietly grown for months, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies sometimes appearing to blame Israel’s security services for failing to prevent the October 7 surprise attack led by Hamas. More recently, the military has been feeling frustrated. by Netanyahu’s government’s struggle to maintain exemptions from service enjoyed by ultra-Orthodox Jews amid shortages in the Israeli military.
But the sharpest and most public break came on Wednesday, when unusually blunt remarks from the military’s top spokesman, Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari, suggested the government could squander the gains it has made by failing to clearly articulate its vision for the post-war Gaza Strip. This reflected the concerns of military leaders. Against Hamas. “If we don’t bring something else to Gaza, we will end up getting Hamas,” he told Israel’s Channel 13.
“Who is that guy again and what is that?” he asked. “The political leadership will decide. But that is the way to get to a situation where we really weaken Hamas.”
Admiral Hagari also appeared to criticize Prime Minister Netanyahu’s repeated calls for a “complete victory” over Palestinian militants. “The idea that it is possible to destroy Hamas and make it disappear is throwing sand in the eyes of the public,” he said.
This prompted Netanyahu’s office to immediately rebuttal, saying that the Israeli cabinet had set “the destruction of Hamas’ military and governing capacity” as one of its war goals, and that the Israeli military was “of course committed to this.”
Mr. Netanyahu, who is no stranger to political conflict, is fighting on multiple fronts, feuding publicly with members of his own party, leaders of other parties in the ruling coalition and the Biden administration. But popular conflict with military leaders is especially evident amid pressures for unity during the war.
“There is a huge lack of trust. The military no longer trusts the political leadership, and some of it no longer trusts the army,” said retired Israeli general Gadi Shamni. “The military sees a lack of overall strategy, growing conflict with the United States, and incitement against commanders.”
Far-right members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have insisted that the all-out war against Hamas must continue, and the prime minister has made no public indications that he is ready to give up. When the military this week paused daytime fighting along a major road corridor to allow more aid to be distributed in southern Gaza, Netanyahu initially said the change had been made without his knowledge. But he made no move to withdraw it. , which one.
The Israeli military said Wednesday that it was easing some wartime restrictions on Israeli communities near Gaza and was very close to defeating Hamas forces in Rafah, suggesting Israeli commanders see some easing in the fighting.
Since the October 7 attack, which Israel claims killed about 1,200 people and taken about 250 hostage, ample evidence has emerged that Israeli officials were aware of Hamas’ operational plans but did not take them seriously. Netanyahu has also promoted an agreement with Hamas to “quietly buy” Gaza through cash, Israeli work permits and infrastructure projects, but this strategy has failed to stop Hamas attacks.
Israel’s military chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, said there was some responsibility for the failure. Mr. Netanyahu has not yet clearly done so. He said the prime minister and his allies should wait until the end of the war to place blame, but he also at times criticized Israel’s security establishment.
And the Israeli military has supported conscription of more ultra-Orthodox soldiers, citing the need for more conscripts to fuel the war effort. But under pressure from his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners, Netanyahu took steps to ensure that the community’s long-standing exemption from military service remained unchanged.
But analysts say the Israeli military’s most important concern is ensuring that hard-won tactical gains against Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, are not wasted. For that to happen, Admiral Hagari said there must be an alternative to Hamas in Gaza.
For now, Prime Minister Netanyahu has been trying to avoid making any decisions about how the territory will be governed after the fighting ends. The United States and other allies say the Palestinian Authority, which oversees parts of the occupied West Bank, should ultimately take control of Gaza, and its far-right coalition partners, on whom Netanyahu’s political survival depends, must support permanent Israeli rule in the Strip. .
As a result, Prime Minister Netanyahu, under pressure from competition, has largely refused. He ruled out the Palestinian Authority and new Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and vowed to continue attacks until Hamas is destroyed. He said little about who would ultimately be responsible for the region’s 2.2 million residents.
General Shamni said Admiral Hagari’s comments appeared intended to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu to take a position. General Shamni said, “You must decide and tell us what you want.” “You don’t want a Palestinian Authority. Instead, let us know what you want. Military regime? They don’t even say that.”
He added, “The government as a whole has no position.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last month that Netanyahu’s inability to make a clear choice was leading Israel toward two undesirable outcomes. In other words, either Israel’s military regime in the Gaza Strip or Hamas eventually coming to power.
“We will pay a huge economic price for no purpose, as well as many victims and many bloodshed,” Mr. Gallant said in a televised address.
Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza face growing anarchy. There are no police to enforce law and order, and public services such as garbage collection are virtually non-existent. In southern Gaza, thousands of tons of humanitarian aid have been stranded on the Gaza side of Israel’s main border as aid groups say it is too dangerous to distribute the supplies.
Israeli military leaders are increasingly concerned that they will assume that burden, said Amir Abibi, a retired Israeli brigadier general who chairs a hawkish forum of former security officials. General Abibi said he personally supported long-term Israeli control there, but “that’s the last thing they want.”
Some believe the war’s goals have been achieved to their fullest extent and are eager to halt operations in the Gaza Strip and shift focus to growing tensions with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, General Abibi said.
Even before the war, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox party and religious nationalist government did not always see eye to eye with the country’s defense establishment. Thousands of Israeli reservists announced last year that they would not volunteer to protest Netanyahu’s plans to weaken the country’s judiciary.
This gap appears to have widened further in recent months.
Ahead of Israel’s Supreme Court deadline, Netanyahu’s coalition has pushed for a bill that would exempt ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service for a long period of time. This practice aroused resentment among the remaining Jews who had long borne the burden of conscription.
Now, after hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been called up to emergency reserves and hundreds have been killed in fighting in Gaza, the move has again sparked outrage. Earlier this month, Israel’s military chief of staff, General Halevi, entered the fray, saying there was a “clear need” to recruit more ultra-Orthodox soldiers.
“Every battalion we have established, the ultra-Orthodox battalion, thanks to conscripts, reduces the need to deploy thousands of reservists,” General Halevi said in a statement. “And this is now a clear requirement, so we strongly encourage it and want to get it right.”
jonathan lace, Myra Novek and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed to the report.
