ALL Israelis Want to End The War on Gaza

More than 9,500 Israeli academics, teachers and medical professionals, as well as approximately 1,000 parents, signed petitions Monday urging the government in Tel Aviv to secure the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, even if it meant ending the war in the enclave.

According to the Haaretz newspaper, approximately 3,500 academics signed a petition supporting a previous letter from Israeli Air Force reservists demanding the return of the hostages and the end of the war.

“We, members of the academic staff in higher education institutions, join the call of the Air Force soldiers and demand the immediate return of the hostages, even if it requires halting the war at once,” the petition stated.

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The academics argued that “the war primarily serves political and personal interests. Its continuation will lead to the deaths of hostages, soldiers, and innocent civilians and will drain the reserve forces.”

They added that “as shown in the past, only a negotiated agreement can ensure the safe return of the abducted to Israel.”

In a similar petition, over 3,000 teachers emphasized that “this is not a call to refuse military service, but a plea to save lives,” the daily added.

About 1,000 parents also signed a separate letter, stating: “For the sake of our children’s future, we refuse to raise them in an endless war, and we will not turn a blind eye to the killing of children.”

“We reject the dangerous idea that there are no innocents in Gaza. We refuse to abandon the hostages or dehumanize others,” the parents wrote.

Meanwhile, nearly 3,000 Israeli medical professionals, alongside three Nobel laureates, signed another petition calling on the government to free hostages held in Gaza by halting the ongoing war, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

About 150 former Israeli soldiers who served in the Golani Brigade, an elite infantry unit, signed a petition Monday for the government to secure the release of the hostages by ending the war, Israel Army Radio said.

Earlier Monday, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former Chief of Staff Dan Halutz signed a petition signed by 1,525 Armored Corps soldiers urging the release of hostages, even if it meant ending the war.

The same day, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said in another report that more than 1,600 veterans from the Paratroopers and Infantry Brigades also signed a letter urging the government to bring back all hostages, even if it meant stopping the war.

About 170 graduates of the elite “Talpiot” military intelligence program signed a letter demanding the hostages’ release through the end of the war, while emphasizing that they were not calling on reservists to refuse service.

In their letter, the graduates of the army’s Talpiot Academy voiced support for several calls by soldiers and veterans denouncing the government’s war policy as serving “political and personal interest” rather than security needs, according to the Army Radio.

“The continuation of the war does not contribute to any of its stated goals,” said the letter, warning that continuing the war would only lead to more deaths, including captives, army soldiers, and innocent civilians according to Anadolu.

The petitions are part of a wider wave of public appeals from current and former Israeli military personnel, all demanding the return of hostages and an end to the war.

Since Thursday, soldiers have signed nearly 10 petitions demanding an end to the Gaza war, according to an Anadolu count.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to dismiss active-duty soldiers who signed the petitions.

The Israeli army renewed its assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering a Jan. 19 ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

Nearly 51,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

  • CrossFireArabia

    CrossFireArabia

    Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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    In a statement, the army said the deceased was a medic from the Shaked Battalion (424) of the Givati ​​Brigade and was killed during fighting in southern Lebanon.

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    Football and Borrowed Boots!

    Matches organised by a former professional player are providing a brief respite from the harsh reality of life for the thousands living in overcrowded tents, schools or damaged buildings in the shattered Occupied Palestinian Territory of Gaza.

    In the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, where tents stretch across the sand and snaking queues form for water and food, Asaad Al-Azzabi prepares for a match a world away from what he once knew.

    Before the war, Mr. Al-Azzabi played for Al-Tajammu Club in Rafah, where he and his teammates had access to pitches, training halls, coaches and equipment. 

    A displaced football player from Rafah prepares his cleats in a sand camp in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, Gaza.
    UN News Asaad Al-Azzabi’s torn boots.

    Borrowed boots

    Now, he’s lucky if he can find boots to play in. “Sometimes I borrow a pair from a friend or patch them up with tape,” he says.

    His home is now a tent in Al-Rahma Camp, a shelter for people displaced from Rafah, where access to clean water and sanitation services is scarce. He lives alone, after his wife left for Jordan with their son, who has cancer, to seek treatment.

    According to UN data, around 1.7 million people are living in around 1,600 displacement sites across the Gaza Strip, most of them in temporary or informal locations. Most residents rely on water brought in by truck and are forced to cope with restrictions on the entry of equipment, fuel and repair materials.

    Amid the struggle to meet basic needs, Mr. Al-Azzabi is preparing for the match with nearby Sheikh Al-Eid Camp. He explains the game plan to his players by drawing on the sand, before the team sets off on foot toward a pitch located among the tents of displaced people. 

    The match appears to be more than a sporting activity – it is a respite from the daily hardships of life in the camps. 

    Children and young men gather around the sandy pitch, applauding players, some of whom arrived after spending hours standing in queues for food, water or battery charging.

    A group of Palestinian refugees, including Asaad Al-Azzabi, gathers to watch a soccer match at a makeshift field in the Al-Mawasi displacement camp, west of Khan Younis, Gaza.
    UN News Displaced people from Rafah watching the match between Al-Rahma Camp and Sheikh Al-Eid Camp.

    Something out of nothing

    Referee Alaa Abu Taha, a referee with the Palestinian Football Association and a displaced resident of Rafah, says football has become the “only outlet” for many people in Gaza.

    “With the most limited resources, we try to play. Now there is no sports infrastructure. The pitch we are standing on now was originally prepared for basketball and volleyball, but our people create everything out of nothing,” he says.

    Gaza’s sports sector has suffered widespread destruction since the outbreak of the war. According to the Palestinian Football Association, hundreds of athletes have been killed, including many footballers, while hundreds of sports facilities have been damaged or destroyed, including pitches, club headquarters and training halls. 

    In Al-Mawasi these losses have not prevented players from organising a championship between displacement camps. 

    The big match

    The match kicks off in front of a small crowd of displaced spectators, with Mr. Al-Azzabi taking part in boots held together by plastic tape. At the end of the match, Al-Rahma Camp defeats Sheikh Al-Eid Camp 2–1.

    A Palestinian football player lifts a soccer trophy in a refugee camp in Gaza, surrounded by celebrating teammates and children.
    UN News Asaad Al-Azzabi celebrating with the crowd of young men and children.

    After the final whistle, young men from the camp lift him and his teammates onto their shoulders, while children and young people celebrate among the tents. For a few brief moments, the sound of displacement recedes from the scene, and football emerges as a rare space for joy.

    “Under these difficult circumstances, to be able to come out and play a match like this is a very good thing,” says Mr. Al-Azzabi. “Congratulations to our camp. I dedicate this championship to my wife and son in Jordan, and I wish my son a speedy recovery.”

    For him, the game is more than a sporting victory. It is a message to his distant family and an attempt to preserve what remains of his life as a former player, chasing the ball as if it were the last thing connecting him to who he was before the war. UN News

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