Over 4,000 IDF reservists sent a letter to Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday demanding that he order a full-scale crushing invasion of Gaza to finally finish off Hamas.
The list includes five brigadier-generals, including Erez Viner, who until very recently had left the planning of Gaza operations for the Southern Command.
It also includes 16 colonels, 90 lieutenant-colonels, 250 other officers, and more than 3,000 regular reserve soldiers.The premise of the letter is that the government promised it would replace IDF chief Herzi Halevi with Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir to order a far more aggressive simultaneous conquest of all of Gaza all at once, as opposed to the staged, slower invasions that characterized the war previously.
However, more than a month after Katz and Zamir ordered a renewal of hostilities on March 18-19, fewer than 500 Hamas terrorists have been killed, versus 20,000 prior to the January 19 ceasefire.
Also, the invasion has proceeded at a snail’s pace and has basically not advanced at all in the last couple of weeks.
The forum of reservists said Hamas can only be defeated by a sweeping and intense invasion of all of Gaza, using far more firepower.
If Katz and Zamir want more time to negotiate for hostages, the forum said they should still lay out a deadline by which they will resort to a full-scale war if negotiations continue to drag out unsuccessfully.
Unlike Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who demands such a large invasion as part of his broader goals to resettle Gaza and undo the 2005 Gaza withdrawal of Jewish settlements, this group is not religious and is zeroed in on security considerations.
They argue that the gradual war approach has failed to coerce Hamas into greater concessions.
'IDF reservists cannot be kept in a circle of endless war'
Further, they said reservists cannot be kept in a circle of endless war, necessitating a speeding up and intensifying of the war so that it can end.
It was unclear what the forum’s plan would be if, even after such an intensification of the war, Hamas did not turn over the hostages and did not agree to disarm.
Also, there are far more reservists who support ending the war now to get all of the hostages back, even at the price of allowing Hamas to keep its arms.
But, at least this large group of prominent reservists made the point that obtaining the return of the current hostages for the price of allowing Hamas to keep its arms could just be effectively exchanging current hostage problems for future hostage problems that Hamas will cause.
All signs are that so far, Katz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefer to give negotiations over hostages more time and are deeply concerned about the consequences of a larger invasion of Gaza.