Israel’s military leaders are making it clear that their work in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon is complete. Will Netanyahu listen?

Jerusalem
CNN
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In subtle but increasingly loud ways, Israeli military leaders are signaling that the country has achieved all it can militarily in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, and that it is time for politicians to cut a deal.

This comes as the Lebanese Prime Minister said a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel may be imminent. Both candidates for the US presidency have also made it clear that they do not want wars in Gaza and Lebanon to be on the agenda when they take office.

When the Israel Defense Forces’ top general met with officers in the northern Gaza Strip who are waging one of the most brutal military operations since last year’s invasion, he went further than ever to suggest that the military phases of both conflicts must end.

“In the north there is a possibility of reaching a sharp conclusion,” said Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi, referring to the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon. In Gaza, he said, “if we destroy the brigade commander in northern Gaza, it will be another collapse…” I don’t know what we will face tomorrow, but this pressure brings us closer to greater achievements.”

What these achievements should be is a matter of great shock.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly declared “absolute victory.” His defense minister and longtime political tormentor Yoav Gallant bristled at the goal. In August, he told a closed parliamentary committee meeting that the idea of ​​“absolute victory” in the Gaza Strip was “nonsense,” according to Israeli media reports.

Gallant’s dim view of Netanyahu’s war goals became official when earlier this week he reportedly sent a private memo to the prime minister and the rest of his cabinet saying the war had reached a stalemate.

“The current situation in which we operate, without a functioning compass and without updated military objectives, undermines campaign management and cabinet decisions,” Gallant wrote, according to Israeli CNN affiliate Channel 13.

In the Gaza Strip, he wrote, Israel must ensure the release of remaining hostages, ensure there is no military threat from Hamas and promote civilian rule. This is a far cry from the current maximalist war goal of eliminating Hamas’s military and governance capabilities.

CNN asked the Israeli Ministry of Defense to comment on the memo. The prime minister’s spokesman declined to comment.

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Wednesday he was optimistic about a potential ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel being reached “within the next few hours or days”, after speaking with visiting US envoy Amos Hochstein to the region on Thursday.

Over the past month, Israel has carried out a massive bombing campaign across Lebanon and killed Hezbollah’s elusive leader Hassan Nasrallah. In his interview, Mikati noted that Hezbollah no longer insists that its conflict with Israel will end only after the end of the Gaza war. This would allow him to agree to a ceasefire without stopping the campaign in Gaza.

“At the moment there is a desire to get out of the war in Lebanon while we are ahead,” a person familiar with the Israeli government’s thinking told CNN.

Gallant said Hamas and Hezbollah were now completely ineffective as Iranian proxies.

“These two organizations, Hamas and Hezbollah, which have been preparing for years as a long arm against the State of Israel, are no longer an effective tool in the hands of Iran,” Gallant said during a memorial service on Sunday. “We know that some goals cannot be achieved through military action alone, and so we must honor our moral obligations to bring our captives home, despite painful compromises.”

Yet Netanyahu remains defiant. When the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, returned from recess this week, the prime minister appeared to reiterate his maximalist goal and signaled he was unlikely to make a decision anytime soon: “Absolute victory is an orderly and consistent work plan that we carry out.” step by step”. step by step,” he said.

Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas are holding indirect talks in Qatar for the first time in two months. Netanyahu’s office said Monday that if a limited offer was offered – a short ceasefire in exchange for the release of the hostages – “the prime minister would accept it on the spot.” However, a source familiar with the talks told CNN that Netanyahu remains reluctant to give any concrete guarantees about a path to a larger deal to end the war.

“The most important goal of the war—bringing the hostages home—has not been achieved,” another official familiar with the negotiations told CNN. “The Gaza Strip will not end until the hostages return home.”