Ahead of Gaza City ground offensive, families of hostages seek urgent meeting with IDF Chief

Chief of the General Staff, Major General Eyal Zamir. (Photo: Reuters)

“Your statements clearly indicate that Operation Chariots of Gideon II will not bring about Hamas’s surrender and will lead to an endless war in the Strip, nullifying all military achievements gained at tremendous cost,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a letter.

IDF Chief says Hamas cannot be defeated

Israeli Channel 12 had reported that Zamir told political leaders that Hamas cannot be defeated either militarily or politically, even if Israel occupies Gaza City.

Zamir, in the meeting on Friday, told the government that the ground operation the army is preparing to launch in Gaza City “will not bring a complete victory,” the report said.

Zamir also warned that the plan to conquer Gaza City would drag Israel into a full-fledged military occupation of the Strip.

The IDF Chief further told lawmakers on the Knesset Subcommittee for Intelligence and Secret Services that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has left the military in the dark regarding the next stages of the war.

Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip attend a rally demanding their release from Hamas captivity and calling for an end to the war. (Photo: AP)

‘Unnecessarily endangering hostages’

Ahead of the IDF’s ground offensive, there have been reports in Israeli media that Hamas has brought at least some of the hostages above ground.

The families of the hostages, expressing concerns over their safety during the military operation, said their loved ones have become ‘living human shields against the IDF’s entry into Gaza.’

“The beginning of Operation Gideon’s Chariots II intensifies this fear many times over and unnecessarily endangers both regular and reserve soldiers,” they said.

Protecting the hostages is not only a basic moral obligation but a supreme national and security interest, they said.

“We demand that the fate of our loved ones not be abandoned. The IDF must present the public and the families with a clear policy: no more living hostages murdered in captivity as a result of military pressure, and no more fallen soldiers disappearing under the rubble with no chance of being located and brought to proper burial,” the letter read.

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