Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has demanded an apology from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the recent comments he made criticizing the army for not putting enough pressure on Hamas to achieve progress on hostage talks local sources reported Tuesday according to Anadolu.
Israel’s Channel 12 said in a press conference Saturday, Netanyahu said “for months, there was no progress because the military pressure was not strong enough, and I thought both for the sake of the hostage deal and for the sake of victory over Hamas, we must enter Rafah.”
Israel launched a ground offensive on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 6, seizing control of the Philadelphi Corridor, including the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
The report also noted military officials interpreted Netanyahu’s comments as implying he wanted action in Rafah, but senior army officers did not follow through, forcing him to put pressure on them.
In a Sunday meeting that was also attended by the heads of Israel’s two main security agencies, Shin Bet and Mossad, Halevi asked Netanyahu to apologize, Channel 12 reported.
In the meeting, Halevi told Netanyahu: “These comments are serious. I demand the prime minister issue an apology.”
However, according to the channel, Netanyahu did not apologize.
A military spokesperson who responded to a request for comment from the channel, said: “We do not address what is said in closed discussions.”
Officials in Netanyahu’s office said they were “unaware of such a statement in this security meeting.”
Since the start of the war on Gaza, disagreements between Netanyahu and military leaders surfaced many times, especially regarding the responsibility for the attacks by Hamas on 7 October 2023.
Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza that led to the killing of more than 38,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injury of over 89,000 injured, according to local health authorities.
Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, the Turkish news agency reported.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
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