Israel's Army Chief Refuses to Tell the Public and His Soldiers the Truth: The War in Gaza Has Run Its Course - Israel News - Haaretz.com
Assuming IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir is neither foolish nor naïve, the question is: how much longer will he continue betraying his own convictions by participating in the farce known Operation Gideon's Chariots.
During meetings with the inner cabinet of senior ministers and defense officials, Zamir has repeatedly argued that the operation has exhausted its usefulness and that Israel should pursue a deal to secure the hostages' release. But on the ground he delivers his soldiers a different message. During a tour of the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to the IDF Spokesperson, he said that "your achievements in the field during Operation Gideon's Chariots are advancing us toward Hamas' defeat and creating the potential for a hostage deal."
He knows that isn't true.
The operation has not brought Israel closer to defeating Hamas. On the contrary, its so-called "achievements" have actively delayed a hostage agreement. Though the operation was initially marketed as a way to pressure Hamas to agree to U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff's proposal, Hamas had agreed to that deal.
It is Israel, not Hamas, that is now balking – refusing to return to positions held prior to the operation and insisting on new defensive lines that differ from those agreed upon in March. As Zamir is well aware, these new lines are political demands, not military necessities, and instead of a deal being concluded, the sides have been negotiating for a month.
Zamir also knows – and has told ministers, even if they refuse to listen – that the humanitarian initiative accompanying Gideon's Chariots has been a resounding failure. The original idea was that the head of every family would come, be identified to ensure that he doesn't belong to Hamas and then peacefully receive a free, plentiful package of food that would sustain him and his family for a week. Hamas members would be left outside the distribution compounds, starve and surrender.
The idea was always idiotic, but the implementation was even worse. The distribution centers have become scenes of mass chaos. They are stormed by tens of thousands of Gazans, some of whom are then either shot or trampled. And certainly no distinction is being made between civilians and Hamas members. Hamas controls the aid, and its fighters aren't hungry, weak and retreating from the IDF the way Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and his partners promised us two months ago.
Israeli troops man a position near the border with the Gaza Strip on July 21, 2025.Credit: AFP/JACK GUEZ
Over the past few days, the battered, unimportant Foreign Ministry has sent urgent, intensifying warnings about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and its diplomatic ramifications overseas. The scenes from Gaza are broadcast not just by the pro-Palestinian media, but also by stations like Fox News, and Israeli representatives are having trouble explaining what is happening there.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit took the farce to new heights on Monday when it released a video of Palestinians storming a food truck in northern Gaza, just meters away from Israeli soldiers, with the caption "The IDF is enabling civilians to get aid." That may be what the IDF sees, but any sane person sees thousands of hungry people being trampled in an attempt to get food, with the spoils going to the most violent.
Because of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intestinal problems, the inner cabinet hasn't convened this week, though a meeting is scheduled for Wednesday. One minister, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, understands the gravity of the humanitarian disaster and the damage it's causing and is pushing to end the war.
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, July 21, 2025.Credit: Mahmoud Issa/רויטרס
But Sa'ar, after a series of political zigzags, lacks the credibility or power to influence Netanyahu – or leave the coalition and oppose him as he once did. Consequently, his position doesn't matter. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, in contrast, is happy to starve the Palestinians seemingly envisioning a scene out of 1960s Biafra, while he snacks on Bamba.
Smotrich, who declared the opening of the aid distribution centers a "historic day," has already moved on to a new vision: a so-called "humanitarian city" built on the ruins of Rafah. Even before the war began on October 7, 2023, he was working on systematic, orderly, horrifying plans to realize his dream of restoring Jewish settlement in Gaza.
Palestinians carry aid supplies from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025.Credit: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
His right hand in the security cabinet, National Missions Minister Orit Strock, said on Monday that we need to invade the refugee camps in central Gaza even at the price of the hostages' lives. As far as all three of them are concerned, the hostages should die already and free us of this burden. The important thing is to push the Palestinians to the Egyptian border, then create chaos there as well so they'll breach the border and leave Gaza, after which Israel will build settlements to replace them.
Defense Minister Israel Katz seems largely disinterested from what's happening in Gaza, focused entirely on events in Syria. Back when he was transportation minister, he crowned himself Herod the Builder. Few know this, but King Herod didn't just launch massive building projects. He was also the military commander of Syria and the Galilee for a time.
Katz, who is no stranger to megalomania, sees himself as a modern-day ruler of Syria. And the nonsense he spouts launches air force jets to bomb everything that moves, without understanding the criticism heard in Washington, nor does it interest him.
This leaves us with Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer – still doing what they do best: telling everyone what they want to hear.
Palestinians flee Deir al-Balah in central Gaza Sunday, July 20, 2025, after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders ahead of expected operations in the area.Credit: Abdel Kareem Hana/אי־פי
Friday morning, following an Israelis strike that hit a church in Gaza, Netanyahu spoke with the pope and promised a deal that would end the war soon. But by Friday evening, under pressure from Smotrich and others, government envoy Gal Hirsch – currently in Doha for hostage negotiations – told reporters a deal was far off. Then, on Saturday, reporters were told the opposite – that Hirsch's briefing was just a negotiating tactic.
Monday afternoon, based on a conversation with an objective person involved in the Doha talks, the state of the negotiations sounded optimistic but slow. They're like a man who is selling an apartment and asks for $1.5 million while the buyer only wants to pay $1 million. For a month, they scream that they won't budge an inch. Any sensible person would tell them to close at $1.25 million and get on with it already. But they entrench themselves in their positions until suddenly, they agree.
Qatar and the United States both want the war to end, and they're exerting all their influence to achieve this. Under the American-Qatari pressure, Israel has greatly reduced the territory it insists on holding south of the Morag corridor. Thus Netanyahu can tell Smotrich that we're staying in the corridor when we actually aren't – a classic trick of his for 40 years now. And the number of Palestinian prisoners freed in exchange for each hostage will be the same as in previous deals.
In this picture taken from a position on the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip, an Israeli military vehicle drives in front of the separation fence as the sun sets behind destroyed buildings in the Palestinian territory, on July 21, 2025.Credit: AFP/JACK GUEZ
A few small disputes remain about the rules of behavior in Gaza during the cease-fire and the final maps of Israel's redeployment. The mediators aren't willing to have Israel use the cease-fire to make changes on the ground such as building infrastructure for the "humanitarian city" in Rafah.
As far as Netanyahu is concerned, things could go on like this for months, with Israel fighting over every meter. Then he wouldn't need to make decisions, his governing coalition's right wing would remain in the government and he would only have to deal with the problem of the ultra-Orthodox parties. The hostage issue has no electoral resonance on the right, so that doesn't interest him.
Consequently, as is true every day, only U.S. President Donald Trump can currently end the farce in Qatar. Actually, Zamir could also do it, if he's willing to tell the Israel public what he's saying behind closed doors. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be made of the right material to do that.