According to Maj. Gen. Israel Ziv, former head of operations for the Israeli army, “the war itself has become the goal that provides stability for Netanyahu and his government.”
A former high-ranking Israeli military official called for Israel’s immediate withdrawal from Gaza on Saturday, describing the situation as a “dire quagmire,” Israel’s Channel 12 reported, according to the Anadolu news agency.
Maj. Gen. Israel Ziv, former head of operations for the Israeli army, reportedly criticized the ongoing war, stating that Israel is “stuck in Gaza and bleeding.”
Ziv, who previously commanded the Gaza Division, suggested that Netanyahu might be prolonging the war to preserve his government and delay his corruption trial, which could eventually result in his imprisonment.
The former general further explained that after what he called the longest and most exhausting war in Israel’s history, the country remains trapped in a persistent security crisis with no resolution in sight.
He observed that the situation continues to deteriorate, with no clear path forward, and noted that the war, which Netanyahu had claimed was nearing victory six months ago, now seems endless.
According to Ziv, “The war itself has become the goal that provides stability for Netanyahu and his government.”
Philadelphi Route
Ziv disputed Netanyahu’s assertion that maintaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt is crucial.
According to Channel 12, Israel’s prime minister “is using the regrouping of Hamas remnants to construct a new narrative of an ‘existential threat,’ allowing him to continue the war and avoid a deal to release hostages, which would hasten the war’s end.”
He added that “in this situation, aside from retrieving the hostages, Israel has no reason to remain in Gaza and should withdraw as soon as possible.”
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Front with Lebanon
“In the north, Israel is engaged in a war of attrition with no end in sight, and the Galilee remains Hezbollah’s main target, with the northern residents as its cannon fodder,” the former military chief reportedly said, warning that “any ground entry into Lebanon without a clear exit strategy or objective, even if limited, would worsen the situation.”
Ziv argued that invading southern Lebanon would not compel Hezbollah to cease attacks but would instead escalate rocket and drone assaults on Israel, much like the aftermath of the invasion in Rafah, southern Gaza.
Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, on October 7, the Lebanese movement Hezbollah has engaged directly, but relatively in a limited way in the war against the Israeli occupation.
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‘Fueling Flames’
Regarding the increasing tensions in the occupied West Bank, Ziv blamed “dangerous actions” by far-right ministers, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, for “fueling the flames in the region.”
“Even in the West Bank, the escalation is intensifying, with Ben Gvir obsessed with igniting every possible flame to set the region ablaze, competing with Smotrich over who can create a total war that would lead to the reoccupation of Judea and Samaria (the biblical term for the occupied West Bank), overthrow the Palestinian Authority, and expel large numbers of Palestinians,” Ziv reportedly said.
The general also noted that “the two extremist ministers have no understanding of the consequences of their dangerous actions, nor how they are exploiting Netanyahu’s weakness to create regional instability.”
This is not the first time Ziv has criticized Netanyahu and Israel’s strategy in the war. Last April, also speaking to Channel 12, he criticized the decision to invade Rafah, stating that time was “crucial for the lives of the prisoners” and tha the invasion of Rafah was a strategic mistake since Israeli captives were not likely to survive.
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Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 41,182 Palestinians have been killed, and 95,280 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, Anadolu)
“Stuck in Gaza and bleeding.”
Former generals of the Israeli genocidal occupation army are far more realistic than Netanyahu and his cabinet members, who flagrantly pretend that they are so very close to victory in Gaza. Deliberately slaughtering as many defenseless civilians as you possibly can on a daily basis as well as bombing into pieces every single building structure (all of which Israel’s been doing in Gaza for over eleven months and in such a horrifying manner) is not the definition of a military victory. That’s the definition of a Holocaust. Nevertheless, they totally failed to defeat Gaza’s Resistance fighters, and totally failed to remove Gaza’s native Palestinian population.
How long do that pair of professional dopes, smotrich and Ben Gvir expect Jordan and Egypt to remain bound by their peace treaties with Israel when Israel is so obvious in violating their provisions concerning Palestinians? So Israel is setting itself up to fight a multi-front war; and this time, unlike the debacle of 1948, the Arab forces are not so easily beaten.