Report: 550 ex-Israel army officers warn against resuming Gaza war

A group representing 550 former senior Israeli officials led by former Deputy Chief of Staff in the Israeli army, Major General (Reserves) Matan Vilnai, has warned against resuming the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Maariv newspaper reported yesterday.

In a joint letter addressed to the Israeli government and the public, the officers said, “The Israeli government is obligated to avoid endangering soldiers and hostages [in Gaza] with empty slogans” adding that the current policy leads to a “violent occupation of the besieged Gaza Strip, and exacerbates the security nightmare in the West Bank.”

The letter added that the most dangerous front currently facing Israel is the internal front due to “national division and the attack on the security establishment”, stressing that the government must release the Israeli captives as a first condition for any future action.

The signatories also warned that the government’s support for ​​displacing Palestinians from Gaza; a proposal put forward by US President Donald Trump last month, jeopardised the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan, and the Abraham Accords with Gulf countries.

On 19 January, a ceasefire-prisoner-swap agreement between Hamas and Israel came into effect, suspending 15 months of Israel’s genocidal war, which killed and wounded 160,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women.

Israel has violated the ceasefire more than 100 times, killing over 100 Palestinians.

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