“Those who claim to have hit Hamas hard and severely affected its ability to wage war in northern Gaza are telling the truth,” he told Israel’s Channel 12 News on Thursday night. “But those who claim to have destroyed it completely or destroyed its will and ability to wage war completely are not telling the truth. There is no reason to talk about things that are only in fairy tales.”
Eisenkot’s comments came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that Israel’s military campaign would continue until it achieved “total victory” over Hamas. His comments also came after Israel withdrew some troops from northern Gaza, signaling that the war was entering a new phase.
However, Mr. Eisenkot affirmed: “We have not achieved any strategic results… We have not destroyed Hamas.”
The comments are the latest sign of cracks within Israel's coalition government, as well as growing frustration over Mr Netanyahu's war plans.
Formed shortly after the October 7 attack by Hamas, Israel's war committee includes several ministers who have long had disagreements.
Photo: Oren Ziv/AFP/Getty Images.
Call for re-election
In his interview, Mr. Eisenkot asserted that Israel needs a new election because the public no longer has faith in Mr. Netanyahu's leadership.
He also dismissed concerns about holding domestic elections while the country is at war.
“The public's lack of confidence in government is as serious as the lack of unity in wartime.”
“We need to vote and elect in the coming months to rebuild the trust of the people, because we don’t have that right now. The State of Israel is a democracy and we have to ask ourselves, after such a serious event, how can we continue to accept a leadership that is responsible for such a massive failure?”
Although the war committee was created to demonstrate unity, it “does not hide the fact that there are disagreements on policy and methods,” said Yohanan Plesner, director of the Israel Institute for Democracy (IDI) in Jerusalem. He also said that these cracks have begun to appear.
As the war approaches 100 days, it is inevitable that divisions will emerge, said Reuven Hazan, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “And they have emerged,” he said. “The lines between the two sides are getting worse.”
Photo: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images.
After more than three months of fighting in Gaza, the conflict shows no sign of ending. Israel launched the operation after Hamas launched a surprise cross-border offensive that killed 1,200 people and took more than 240 hostages. Israeli authorities believe more than 100 people are still being held after 105 hostages were freed during a temporary truce in December 2023. Dozens of hostages have been killed and their bodies are still left in Gaza.
In addition, more than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to data provided by the Gaza Health Ministry, and large areas of Gaza have also been leveled.
The Israeli government has two objectives in the war, and they may not be successful, Mr. Hazan said. “The first objective is to destroy Hamas and the other objective is to bring all the hostages home. And as we have seen over the last hundred days, we cannot succeed in both objectives.”
Mr. Eisenkot said the government had failed to achieve what he said should be a top priority: freeing more hostages.
“I think there is no need to hesitate about which is the top priority. For me, the mission that needs to be achieved first is to rescue civilians (hostages) before destroying the enemy.”
A November 2023 poll by the Israel Institute for Democracy found that while Israelis supported destroying Hamas and rescuing the hostages, a majority still believed that rescuing the hostages was more important.
Photo: Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters.
Tensions with the US over the question of a Palestinian state
Israel’s relations with its biggest ally, the United States, have also plummeted. On Thursday, the Israeli prime minister issued a strong statement opposing a post-war scenario that envisions a Palestinian state, a scenario that the United States and several other countries have voiced support for.
Netanyahu said the idea of a Palestinian state ran counter to Israel's security goals. Netanyahu had repeatedly made clear his opposition to a Palestinian state solution before making his comments on Thursday.
At a press conference in Tel Aviv, when asked about reports that he had opposed the idea of asserting Palestinian sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza to US officials, he said: “For the foreseeable future, whether there is an agreement or not, the State of Israel will need to control security in all the territory west of the Jordan River.”
Mr. Netanyahu also affirmed that the politicians asking him to resign were all asking for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Mr. Hazan said that relations between Israel and the United States are likely to worsen, especially if Mr. Netanyahu wants to stay in power.
Many politicians have called for Mr Netanyahu to resign.
Asked whether he thought Mr Netanyahu was deliberately prolonging the conflict to extend his term, Mr Eisenkot said this was not true.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has also called for re-election. In an article in Haaretz on Thursday, he warned that Netanyahu’s current strategy could alienate the United States and leave Israel “stuck in the Gaza quagmire.”
Netanyahu's political survival
Some analysts say that when the war ends, the Israeli public will focus on Netanyahu’s shortcomings in the war. Plesner said there will be more attention on responsibility for the October 7, 2023 attack, as well as new leadership policies.
“Given the public's current views of Netanyahu, I don't think he would like to see this period.”
Before the war broke out, Mr Netanyahu faced mass protests against his plans to reform the justice system, and has so far refused to take responsibility for the events of October 7. He has also refused to initiate high-level discussions on plans for Gaza's future after the war, allowing some far-right members of the coalition government to put forward views that many consider too extreme.
“(Mr. Netanyahu) understands that to stay in power, the war must continue. Because when the war ends, that is when the Israeli people turn their backs on him,” said Mr. Hazan.
Photo: Amir Levy/Getty Images.
A poll published earlier this month by IDI found that only 15% of Israelis want Netanyahu to remain prime minister after the war ends. Twenty-three percent said they want former Defense Minister Benny Gantz to become prime minister after the war.
Mr. Gantz is considered a potential successor to Mr. Netanyahu every time there is an election in Israel.
“So, as bad as it sounds, it is in Netanyahu’s political and survival interest to keep the war going, which would put him at odds with the Biden administration,” Hazan said.
He said that even if Israel holds elections, Netanyahu will likely still call for opposition to the Palestinian state solution, and assert to his supporters that “only he can say no to America and no to the Palestinian state solution.” He also said that Netanyahu may believe that these actions will sway public opinion in his favor.
However, Mr Plesner does not believe that Mr Netanyahu is prolonging the war to stay in power. He said the decision on the war is not in Mr Netanyahu's hands, and that while the Israelis want to bring the hostages home, they are not currently in favour of an indefinite ceasefire because it could make Hamas stronger.
Nguyen Quang Minh (according to CNN)
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