IDF Maj.-Gen.: Israel's war in Gaza is lost and aimless, Hamas is still kicking
Former IDF Maj.-Gen. Israel Ziv reveals the bitter truth about the war in Gaza, the debate with Americans, and the activity at Shifa Hospital.
IDF Maj.-Gen. (res.) Israel Ziv, former head of the IDF's Operations Directorate, recently spoke with Udi Segal and Anat Davidov on 103FM radio, discussing important topics such as the conduct of the war in Gaza, the debate with America about the operation in Rafah, and the activity at Shifa Hospital.
Ziv explained the actions at Shifa Hospital "means that in practice, Hamas remains in control of the area and that this situation in Shifa is probably similar in other hospitals. There are other hospitals in northern Gaza. Hamas's military capabilities have indeed been damaged, undoubtedly eliminated by the IDF, but they still have thousands of terrorists. The territory in terms of civilian control remains in the hands of Hamas; the organization is alive and is still kicking."
To the question of whether it was right to withdraw most of the IDF troops from Gaza, Ziv replied: "In the absence of a policy, what is the IDF supposed to do? We are over five months into this war without any predictable political goal. Let's say we stayed until now. What is next? Even if we stayed and declared that we were occupying, we would become the new government in Gaza. Israel would need to establish civil, police, and security systems and take care of the various services. What happened to us is not just the Hamas situation. The lack of decision-making on our part is the most serious thing."
Ziv later commented on Canada's decision to stop arms shipments to Israel, "Israel is in the middle of a very serious international crisis. I don't remember one like this before. It is a result not only of the lack of advocacy but also that Israel is in a deep crisis as a result of the lack of policy. Everything points to the fact that the government does not make policy decisions, and not only do we not know what the best decision is, but the world does not know either.
"The world does not show the photos of Channel 12 showing how the IDF does one heroic action or another in Shifa; they only show photos of the humanitarian crisis, the demolition, and the destruction. Because of this, the public opinion in the world is against us. The point here is that in the end, the US will not be there for us either because there is a limit to what they are willing to contain."
Israel's dependence on America during the current war
He further stated, "If Israel is going to return to being a nation on its own, maybe we can last a few months. Without the backing from our allies, we will not be able to continue and defeat Hezbollah in the North, and militarily, we will be hurt. I think we are already in a very serious situation, and Israel must make a decision. A continuation of this streak is national irresponsibility from a security point of view and in general."
"If we don't solve the problem in the South, the situation in the North won't be able to be solved politically either, and the US won't push for it. America doesn't work for Israel. They have worked with Israel until now, but America doesn't agree with Israel's policy, so why would America go to all kinds of effort? It will not happen. So Israel will remain rooted in its own troubles, and if we are such great heroes - let's see," Ziv continued.
Towards the end of his remarks, Ziv was asked if Israel plans to convince America of the necessity of the action in Rafah, and he replied: "No. We ourselves are not convinced. If Rafah is so important, why didn't we enter already? The main military problem was in Gaza, by the way. After what happened on October 7, we proceeded cautiously and with an excess of force, we did not act with exceptional sophistication and we did not create control."
Ziv concluded, "It is impossible to conduct a war like this, and it is being conducted from within itself. The IDF knows what to do, but the war is being lost. It has no goals, no direction. If you agree with the path of this government, the problems will continue. If not, please make room for someone else."