TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / September 4, 2024
An unidentified senior military official quoted by Yedioth Ahronoth reportedly said that “the Cabinet will have to decide whether it takes responsibility for the lives of the abductees.”
The Israeli occupation army warned its government that unless an agreement is sealed with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, any extensive military operation in the Gaza Strip is bound to risk the lives of Israeli captives, Israeli media reported.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the Israeli army “made it clear to the political echelon that without a deal (with Hamas), it must be understood that any extensive ground operation in the Gaza Strip has a meaning—risking the lives of abductees”.
An unidentified senior military official quoted by Yedioth Ahronoth reportedly said that “the Cabinet will have to decide whether it takes responsibility for the lives of the abductees.”
The newspaper revealed that since the Israeli army recovered the bodies of the six captives on September 1 in a tunnel in the southern city of Rafah, the Israeli military has repeatedly warned the government of this matter.
Israel accused Hamas of killing its captives while the Palestinian movement held Israel responsible.
The military spokesman for Al-Qassam Brigades Abu Obeida issued a statement on Monday, warning Israel against the high cost of trying to free captives using military action.
According to an anonymous Israeli official cited by the Israeli news website Yedioth Ahronot, three of the captives whose bodies were recovered were listed to be freed as part of the ceasefire agreement of July 2, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected.
Netanyahu vs. the military
These latest statements come amidst tension between Israel’s army and Netanyahu’s government.
Netanyahu, who continues to brush off the military’s warnings on numerous occasions, reportedly told the families of captive soldiers on August 26 that he is careless about the positions of both the security and military establishments in regard to the Philadelphi Corridor.
“We will not back down from our demand regarding the Philadelphi Corridor, and I do not care about the position of the security services,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying by the Israeli media.
In response to confirmations made by Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to the captives’ families that Israel’s absence from the Philadelphi Corridor does not constitute a security problem, the Prime Minister’s office said that Netanyahu is determined to return the “kidnapped soldiers” while maintaining the Philadelphi Corridor in “Israeli hands,” Israel’s Channel 12 reported.
Resignations in army ranks
Meanwhile, the Chief of the Israeli Army’s Ground Forces, Major General Tamir Yadai, has resigned and alleged the move was due to “personal reasons.”
According to the Anadolu news agency, the Israeli military said that Yadai resigned after he served three years in the position, without providing further information.
Yadai will step down within the coming weeks, and who will replace him is not immediately clear.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Yadai “was among the generals who pushed for ground maneuvers and expressed confidence in the reserve forces,” at the beginning of the current conflict.
In June, the commander of the Israeli army’s Gaza Division Brigadier General Avi Rosenfeld, also announced his resignation, citing his failure to protect Israeli military bases and settlements during the October 7 resistance operation, Israeli media reported.
“On October 7, I failed in my lifetime mission to protect the Gaza border communities,” Brigadier General Avi Rosenfeld stated, according to Anadolu news agency.
In April, Aharon Haliva, the head of the army’s Military Intelligence Directorate (AMAN), also resigned due to the failures on October 7.
“On October 7, that bitter day that I carry with me on my conscience and on my shoulders, and will carry with me until my last days, we did not uphold the sanctity of our oath,” he stated, The Jerusalem Post reported him as saying.
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, 40,786 Palestinians have been killed, and 94,224 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.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
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’.
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.
