Wider Gaza aggression 'will cost us blood', warns Israeli reserve general
A major general of Israel’s military reserve has warned that the recent decision to expand the ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip will claim the lives of more Israelis for the sake of the political survival of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Yair Golan made the remarks in an X post on Monday, a day after Israel’s so-called security cabinet unanimously approved a new plan to expand attacks in Gaza and occupy additional areas throughout the besieged Palestinian territory.
He said the decision to expand the offensive was made “not to maintain Israel’s security, but to save Netanyahu” and his extremist cabinet.
The occupation army’s only role is to protect Israelis, not serve political goals, added Golan, who also heads the opposition Democrats party.
The actual occupation of the Strip in the name of survival “will cost us blood – in the lives of the captives, in the lives of male and female soldiers, in exhaustion, and most importantly: in losing our way.”
The criticism came after Israel’s so-called security cabinet approved the phased plan for the brutal Israeli onslaught that involves conducting “powerful strikes” across Gaza, occupying more areas, and forcibly displacing Palestinians to the territory’s south.
The forum representing the families of Israeli captives said in a statement that the plan is the acknowledgement by the regime that it is choosing to occupy more territory over releasing captives.
The cabinet also approved, in principle, a framework for the future distribution of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip via private foreign firms.
Far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir opposed the resumption of aid deliveries into Gaza, claiming that “there’s enough food” there.
However, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement that bakeries and community kitchens are no longer operating, while food warehouses have been emptied as a result of Israel’s total siege on Gaza.
The new framework for the distribution of Gaza aid ” contravenes fundamental humanitarian principles and appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy. It is dangerous, driving civilians into militarized zones to collect rations, threatening lives, including those of humanitarian workers, while further entrenching forced displacement,” it emphasized.
Israel launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, which has so far killed at least 52,535 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 118,491 others.
The Tel Aviv regime accepted longstanding negotiation terms by the Hamas resistance group under a Gaza ceasefire, which began on January 19.
However, Israel unilaterally abandoned the truce on March 2, cutting off humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. It also resumed its deadly bombing campaign and redeployed troops to the blockaded territory.
