Top Israeli generals want a ceasefire to begin in Gaza even if it would temporarily put Hamas in power, widening a rift between the military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposes allowing Hamas to A ceasefire for survival in war.
The generals believe a ceasefire is the best way to free the roughly 120 Israelis still held in Gaza, dead or alive, according to interviews with six current and former security officials.
After Israel’s longest war in decades, the generals also believe their forces need time to recover in the event of a land war with Hezbollah. .
A truce with Hamas could also make it easier to reach a deal with Hezbollah, officials said, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity discussing sensitive security issues. Hezbollah said it would continue attacking northern Israel until Israel halted its campaign in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s military leadership, collectively known as the “General Staff Forum,” consists of about 30 senior generals, including chief of military staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, army, air force and navy commanders and the head of military intelligence.
The military’s approach to the ceasefire reflects a major shift in its thinking over the past few months, as Mr Netanyahu’s refusal to articulate or commit to a post-war plan became more apparent. The decision essentially created a power vacuum in the enclave, forcing the military to return to parts of Gaza that had been cleared of Hamas militants.
“The military fully supports the hostage agreement and the ceasefire,” said Eyal Khurata, who served as Israel’s national security adviser early last year and speaks regularly with senior military officials.
“They believe they can always go back to have military contact with Hamas in the future,” Mr. Hurata said. “They understand that the Gaza moratorium will make de-escalation more likely in Lebanon. And they have less ammunition, less spare parts, less energy than before – so they also believe that the Gaza moratorium gives us more time to prepare, to prevent a larger war from happening with Hezbollah.
It was unclear how the military leadership expressed its views directly to Mr Netanyahu privately, but their public frustration was evident, as was the prime minister’s displeasure with the generals.
Netanyahu is wary of a truce that would keep Hamas in power because such an outcome could fracture his coalition, some of which have said they would withdraw if the war ends and Hamas remains undefeated.
Until recently, the military publicly insisted that it was possible to simultaneously achieve the government’s two main war goals: defeating Hamas and freeing hostages captured by Hamas and its allies during an Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Now, months after generals began to have doubts, the military’s high command has concluded that the two goals are incompatible.
Since its invasion of Gaza in October, Israel has defeated nearly every Hamas battalion and captured much of the territory at some point in the war. But less than half of the 250 hostages taken to Gaza in October remain in custody, and high command fears that further military action to free them could risk killing others.
With Mr Netanyahu publicly unwilling to commit to occupying Gaza or handing control over to other Palestinian leaders, the military fears a “forever war” in which Hama remains captive despite hostages remaining Sri Lanka’s leaders remain at large, but their energy and ammunition will gradually be depleted. Hullata said that in the face of this situation, allowing Hamas to temporarily take power in exchange for hostages seems to be the least bad option for Israel. Four senior officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, agreed.
When asked if it supported a truce, the military issued a statement but did not directly answer the question. The statement said the military was working to destroy “Hamas’ military and governance capabilities, repatriate hostages and allow Israeli civilians to return home safely from the south and north.”
But in other recent statements and interviews, military leaders have publicly hinted at the conclusions they reached privately.
“Those who think we can make Hamas disappear are wrong,” the military’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said in a television interview on June 19. It’s just an idea. Hamas is a political party. It has become deeply rooted in people’s hearts.
In a veiled criticism of Mr Netanyahu, General Hagari said suggesting otherwise would be “throwing sand in the public eye”.
“What we can do is build something else,” he said, “something that can take its place and let people know that someone is giving out food, someone is providing a public service. Who is that person, what is that thing — it depends on It’s up to the decision maker.
Chief of Staff General Halevi has recently tried to exaggerate the military’s achievements, which some analysts say is an attempt to create an excuse to end the war without humiliation.
On June 24, as the Israeli army advanced into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, General Halevi said that the Israeli army was “clearly close to the point where we can say that we have disbanded the Rafah brigade, that it has been defeated.” Not that there are no more terrorists, but that it is no longer able to function as a combat unit.
The military estimates it has killed at least 14,000 militants – the majority of Hamas’s forces. But officials also believe thousands of Hamas fighters remain at large, hiding in tunnels dug deep beneath the surface of Gaza, guarding stockpiles of weapons, fuel, food and some hostages.
Mr. Netanyahu’s office declined to comment for this article. He said in a statement on Monday that Israel was on the verge of “eliminating the Hamas terrorist army,” but stopped short of saying that would allow Israel to end the Gaza war.
In a rare television interview in late June, the prime minister dismissed suggestions that the war should end but acknowledged that the army should reduce its presence in Gaza in order to “move some of our forces to the north”.
Military officials said the move was to help the army recuperate in case a wider war with Hezbollah broke out, not because Israel was preparing for an immediate invasion of Lebanon. However, other news reports indicate that Israel may be planning an invasion in the coming weeks.
Israel’s unplanned war has been going on for nearly nine months and its army lacks spare parts, ammunition, power and even troops, officials say.
The war is Israel’s most intense conflict in at least four decades and the longest conflict in Gaza’s history. In a military that relies largely on reservists, some entering their third tour of duty since October, they are trying to balance combat with career and family commitments.
The number of reservists reporting for duty has dropped, according to four military officials. The military’s failure to prevent a Hamas-led attack in October has led to a crisis of confidence in the military leadership, with officers growing distrustful of their commanders, five officers said.
More than 300 soldiers have been killed in Gaza, lower than some military officials predicted before Israel invaded the territory. But according to military statistics, more than 4,000 soldiers have been injured since October, 10 times the number injured during the 2014 Gaza war, which lasted only 50 days. An unknown number of others suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
At least some of the tanks in Gaza are not filled with the artillery shells they normally carry, two military officers said, as the military tries to preserve stocks in case a larger war with Hezbollah breaks out. Five officials and military officers confirmed that the army was running low on artillery shells. Several of the officials said the army also lacked spare parts for tanks, military bulldozers and armored vehicles.
All the officers, as well as Mr. Hurata, said Israel had enough ammunition to fight in Lebanon if it felt it had no choice.
“If we are involved in a larger war, we have enough resources and manpower,” Mr. Hullata said. “But we want to do it under the best conditions. At the moment, we don’t have the best conditions.
Jonathan Rice Contributed reporting.
