About 200 former pilots of the Israeli Air Force, including those in reserve, gathered last Tuesday evening near the building of the General Staff of the Defense Army of the Jewish State (IDF) to demand the immediate conclusion of a deal on the release of hostages and to protest against the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of the country to seize the city of Gaza, which was made against the background of preparations for the occupation of the Israeli troops of the entire Palestinian sector.
Last Friday, Benjamin Netanyahu's government approved a plan to occupy the Gaza Strip — a move that sparked internal protests, and critics in Israel called it a "death sentence" for the captives. The decision, which was reportedly made despite opposition from the military leadership, raised concerns about the fate of the surviving hostages held by Hamas militants since October 2023, as well as about "soldiers, civilians and Israel's reputation in the international arena," The Times of Israel newspaper noted.
The Israeli press writes about the deepening tension in relations between the chief of the IDF General Staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir and Benjamin Netanyahu after the Prime Minister proposed his plan for the reoccupation of Gaza, which Israel controlled for 38 years — from 1967 to 2005. According to the plan, the first stage is supposed to displace about one million residents from Gaza City to the south, surround the city and begin incursions into its residential areas. The second stage involves the capture of refugee camps in the city center, many of which have already been subjected to large-scale bombing during the ongoing war.
Zamir, on the contrary, has put forward a "siege plan" with several operational directions in the Gaza Strip, aimed at increasing military pressure on Hamas in order to secure the release of hostages without falling into what he calls "strategic traps."
The participants of yesterday's action stated that "the ongoing war in Gaza is causing unbearable damage to prisoners who have been held captive for 676 days."
According to official Tel Aviv estimates, up to 50 Israeli prisoners are currently being held in Gaza, twenty of whom, according to confirmed information, are alive.
The war "exposes our soldiers to unjustified risk, causes unjustified harm to a large number of innocent civilians and lowers Israel's position in the world to an unprecedented low level," the protesters noted, pointing to the need to put an end to "this unnecessary and stupid war."
Rejecting Netanyahu's plan, the protesters announced their decision to hold a nationwide strike next Sunday, August 17, and "stop public life" in Israel.
Protesters read aloud a letter from Tami Arad, the wife of Israeli Air Force navigator Ron Arad, who went missing after he ejected from his plane over southern Lebanon in 1986.
"Thirty-nine years ago, I tried to explain that Ron's time was running out… Today, decision makers already know what can happen, and yet members of the Israeli government have decided to occupy Gaza," the letter said.
In her message, Arad warned that this step "ignores the urgent need to rescue the hostages," and called the plan to capture Gaza City a "death trap," thereby repeating the assessment of the IDF Chief of General Staff, expressed at a 10-hour meeting of the Cabinet of Security Ministers last week, at which the plan for the complete capture of the Gaza Strip was approved.
The former chief of the General Staff of the country Dan Khaluts appealed to the political leadership during the protest:
"That's enough! Stop this senseless war!".
Addressing Zamir, Halutz added:
"Do not let the Messiahs lead us into darkness... any actions aimed at achieving an unattainable goal can lead to the death of hostages."
In addition to concern for the hostages, the protesters also expressed concern about possible losses among the military.
"Do not sacrifice our sons to death in Gaza when the goal is not the security of Israel and not the return of hostages, and when this contradicts the opinion of a significant and clear majority of the public," Israeli media quoted reservist pilot Guy Poran.
In addition, on the morning of August 12, mothers of soldiers participating in hostilities in Gaza held a protest near the house of Air Force Commander Major General Tomer Bar, demanding an end to the war.
"Stop cooperating with the obviously illegal war! Stop serving a Messianic government that sacrifices soldiers and hostages! Show responsibility and stop this suicidal failure!", the mothers of the servicemen said.
General Bar responded by leaving his home in the Ateret settlement to calm the protesters. They asked him to help stop the war and support the IDF Chief of Staff in his speech against the occupation of Gaza, the media reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed at a press conference last Sunday that Israel does not seek a long-term occupation of the Gaza Strip, but instead plans to achieve its demilitarization and transfer to a "peaceful Arab government not affiliated with either Hamas or based in Gaza." Ramallah by the Palestinian Authority." However, according to him, "given the refusal of Hamas to lay down its arms, Israel has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas."
Meanwhile, the expansion of the war in Gaza has brought tensions within the Israeli military and political leadership to the limit. Defense Minister Yisrael Katz made a statement a few hours ago, assuring that he "keeps personnel decisions in the army under close attention." Israeli commentators considered such a message from the head of the military department to be an aggravation of his quarrel with the Chief of the General Staff Zamir.
At the beginning of this week, Katz came into open conflict with Zamir because of a meeting that the Israeli military commander held on the issue of appointment to senior military positions. The Minister of Defense rejected the promotions proposed by the head of the General Staff.
"In accordance with the law, I make a decision to approve promotions from colonel and above, and the IDF commander must recommend various options. Therefore, a procedure has been established for preliminary consultations between the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff, a procedure that should be carried out in an organized manner and during preliminary discussions, as has been done since I assumed the post of Minister of Defense," Katz said in a statement.
"An attempt to change the procedures that we have defined, possibly on the recommendation of anti—government advisers, adding fuel to the fire, and replace them with an attempt to create facts on the ground at special meetings, will not succeed," he added.
The Kan TV channel reported on August 12 that General Zamir held consultations with several former high-ranking army officers, including former Chief of the General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, former director of the Operations Directorate of the General Staff Israel Ziva and ex-IDF representative Avi Benayagu, who had previously "all criticized the government" of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Earlier it became known about the growing tension between the Southern Command and The IDF Air Force because of the expanded rules of engagement in the Palestinian enclave, which the head of the Southern Command, Major General Yaniv Asor, insists on. According to numerous testimonies, the tactics of the ground units under his command led to the deaths of hundreds of Gazans who were not directly involved in the fighting. In other words, civilian casualties have increased to unacceptable levels even for the Israeli generals, and this has led to unprecedented pressure from the international community on the political leadership of the Jewish state.
The commander of the Israeli Air Force, Tomer Bar, had previously personally approved the airstrikes on Gaza. Now Asor demands that Bar stop objecting to his proposed more intensive aerial bombardment of Hamas targets and positions and that he "refrain from canceling the decisions of the Southern Command."