Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided that all of Gaza is to be occupied by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), against the strenuous objections of IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, according to various Israeli media. There have been moments of tension between the IDF’s military goals and what has become more and more transparent, Netanyahu’s political goal of seizing all of Gaza for Israel.
The Ynet news site quoted a senior official close to the premier as saying: “The die is cast—we are going for a full occupation of the Gaza Strip.” Several cabinet ministers reported: “There will be operations even in areas where hostages are being held. If the chief of staff doesn’t agree, he should resign.”
According to the Times of Israel, in today’s three-hour session, Zamir objected that driving into areas where the remaining hostages are held will endanger their lives. (Hamas’s military wing has already stated that if the hostage locations are attacked, the hostages will die.) He said that his tired (read, demoralized) army would be further exhausted. Channel 12 quoted Zamir as saying that occupation “will significantly endanger the lives of the hostages and cause the erosion of the army.”
