Netanyahu hints at expanded war but ex-Israeli military and spy chiefs object

By Julia Frankel and Wafaa Shurafa, Associated Press

Jerusalem (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alludes to a broader military action in Gaza devastated on Tuesday, even though the former Israeli army and the intelligence leaders called at the end of the war of almost 22 months.

The new pressure on Netanyahu came while the Gaza Ministry of Health said that the number of Palestinian deaths had exceeded 61,000. Health officials reported new deaths of hungry Palestinians in search of food at distribution points. While despair rises, the coordination aid of the Israeli defense corps has announced an agreement with local merchants to improve aid deliveries.

The former security officials expressed, included the previous managers of the Half Bet internal security service in Israel, the Mossad and the Army espionage agency. In a video published on social networks this week, they said that the far -right members of the government hold Israel “hostage” to prolong the conflict.

Netanyahu’s objectives in Gaza are “a fantasy,” said Yoram Cohen, a former Shin Bet chief, in the video.

“If someone imagines that we can reach all the terrorists and each pit and each weapon, and in parallel, bringing our hostages home-I think it’s impossible,” he said.

More difficult military action possible

Netanyahu announced on Monday that he would summon his security firm to lead the soldiers on the next stage of the war, suggesting that an even more difficult action was possible. This meeting began, according to an Israeli official familiar with the question, speaking under the cover of anonymity because there was no official announcement.

Netanyahu said its objectives include Hamas defeat, the release of the remaining 50 hostages and that Gaza never threatens Israel again after the attack led by Hamas in 2023 has triggered the war.

Hamas has been appointed as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The Israeli media reported disagreements between Netanyahu and the army chief, the lieutenant-general Eyal Zamir, on how to proceed. Reports, citing anonymous officials from the Netanyahu office, said the Prime Minister was pushing the army, which controls approximately three -quarters of Gaza, to conquer the whole territory – a stage that could endanger hostages, deepen the humanitarian crisis and isolate more internationally Israel.

Various reports have declared that Zamir opposes this stage and could resign or be expelled if it is approved. Israeli officials did not respond to requests for comments on reports.

The leader of Egypt calls for the end of the war

Egypt is a mediator in cease-fire talks, and its president Abdel Fattah El-Sissi said that the War of Israel in Gaza has become a “war of famine, genocide and liquidation of the Palestinian cause”.

El-Sissi said war no longer aims to achieve political objectives or publish hostages. He reiterated his appeal to European governments and US President Donald Trump to help stop war and provide humanitarian aid to more than 2 million people in Gaza. Long ranges of trucks waiting to enter Egypt Gaza were a recurring image of the war.

Egypt has solid security ties with Israel.

No more seekers of help killed

Gaza health officials said Israeli forces opened fire on Tuesday morning to the Palestinians in search of aid and targeted attacks in the center and southern Gaza, killing at least 25 people.

The Israeli army did not immediately comment.

The dead included 19 in the south of Gaza, including 12 seeking help near the Morag corridor and in the Tina region, about 1.8 miles from the center of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation supported by Israeli east of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital and the Ministry of Health.

The ministry does not distinguish between activists and civilians, but says that around half of the dead have been women and children. It operates under the government of Hamas. The UN and other international organizations consider it the most reliable source of injury data.

Elsewhere in the center of Gaza, the Al-Awda hospital said it had received the bodies of six Palestinians who were killed when Israeli troops targeted crowds near another GHF aid distribution site.

The GHF said that there had been no incident on its sites on Tuesday.

Several hundred Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fires since May, while heading for food distribution sites, parcels and aid for aid to the ventilated management, according to witnesses, local health officials and the United Nations Human Rights Office. The Israeli army says that it only pulled warning fire and disputes the toll.

The Israeli defense organization responsible for coordinating aid, Cogat, said on social networks that there will be a “progressive and controlled renewal of the entry of goods by the private sector in Gaza”.

He indicated that a limited number of local merchants had been approved for the plan.

“Staped with humiliation and blood”

Mohammed Qassas of Khan Younis said that his young children were so hungry that he was forced to trucks to help storms, which rarely reach warehouses these days because they are arrested by hungry crowds.