Ehud Olmert, former Israeli Prime Minister confirmed that Benjamin Netanyahu does not want to recover the Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip, and that the ceasefire negotiations may collapse. He warned the current Israeli prime minister is leading Israel to the abyss and a comprehensive war in the Middle East.
In a recent Haaretz article Olmert added, the continuation of the war in the Gaza Strip and its expansion in the north with Hezbollah will increase the chances of a comprehensive regional war with other parties like the Yemeni armed forces, and other groups supported by Iran in Syria and Iraq joining in.
He said such a scenario would pose a real threat to Israel, and a step that will lead to the deaths of many soldiers and settlers. He noted this will cause serious damage to the physical infrastructure inside Israel and to a real deterioration in its international standing.
He pointed out Netanyahu must choose between abandoning his declared goal of “absolute victory” and continuing the war and expanding it into a comprehensive confrontation on multiple fronts without a reasonable timetable to end it. He added that Israel is approaching a comprehensive war in great strides, and this is what Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich want.
Olmert called on Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, and Mossad chief David Barnea to jointly announce their resignations, as soon as Netanyahu thwarts negotiations to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza in the coming days.
In a related context, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz said in its editorial that the prisoners that are being held in Gaza, now in their 11-month of captivity have “begun to slowly rot in Hamas tunnels, and have become secondary figures for Netanyahu.”
The newspaper pointed out that Netanyahu sometimes says that he is ready to negotiate, and other times he lengthens the Israeli delegation’s rope, and announces that he will be flexible, but suddenly he adds new conditions, revealing that he says in closed political salons that there is no ceasefire deal, and in the meantime more prisoners are dying according to the Quds News Network.