Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel Protection Forces Chief of Workers Eyal Zamir reportedly clashed over the federal government’s incipient plan to completely occupy the Gaza Strip, with Zamir arguing that the choice constitutes a “lure” for the IDF.
The 2 males additionally tussled, in accordance with Hebrew media studies, over a publish on X by the prime minister’s son, Yair Netanyahu, who doesn’t maintain a authorities place. The youthful Netanyahu lashed out at Zamir and urged that he was behind a “rebel and tried navy coup that’s match for a banana republic in Central America within the 70s.”
Zamir objected to that accusation, saying within the assembly, in accordance with the Kan public broadcaster, “How does that look? Why are you attacking me? Why are you talking in opposition to me in the midst of a conflict?”
Netanyahu reportedly responded, “Don’t threaten to stop within the media. I can’t settle for that each time you threaten that if we don’t settle for your plans, you’ll go away. My son is 33, he’s a grown man.”
Zamir has repeatedly clashed with the cupboard, and sources within the Prime Minister’s Workplace have urged that if he objects to the plan to occupy Gaza, he can resign.
The IDF chief additionally reportedly mentioned throughout Tuesday’s deliberations that full occupation would endanger the 50 hostages held by terror teams in Gaza, a minimum of 20 of whom are regarded as alive, and would additional exhaust the military.
The argument was the most recent in a sequence of disagreements between the cupboard and IDF brass. It reportedly happened throughout a three-hour assembly of a restricted group of ministers, forward of a cupboard vote to approve the occupation plan. Netanyahu has reportedly determined to maneuver ahead with occupation, a longstanding demand of his far-right coalition companions, as negotiations with Hamas hit an deadlock in current weeks.
IDF troops function within the Gaza Strip, in a picture printed on August 5, 2025. (Israel Protection Forces)
“You’re going to create a lure in Gaza,” Zamir advised Netanyahu, in accordance with the Kan public broadcaster. Channel 12 quoted Zamir as saying that occupation “will considerably endanger the lives of the hostages and trigger the erosion of the military.”
Zamir, in accordance with each retailers, is recommending that, relatively than totally conquer the strip, the IDF encircle Gaza Metropolis and presumably different inhabitants facilities, then use these positions to launch assaults. The Walla information web site reported that the IDF chief is suggesting a gradual strategy.
Netanyahu reportedly responded by telling Zamir to organize plans for the occupation of the Strip to current to the cupboard. Kan reported that when Zamir mentioned he had already offered them, the prime minister responded, “Make the enhancements and current it.”
In a probable reference to the pushback from Zamir, Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned in a press release after the assembly, “The IDF is ready to implement any choice made by the safety cupboard,” which was anticipated to convene Thursday to approve the occupation plans.
The IDF at the moment holds management over roughly 75 % of the Gaza Strip, however below the brand new plan, the navy can be anticipated to occupy the remaining territory as effectively — bringing the whole enclave below Israeli management.
It’s unclear what such a transfer would imply for the Strip’s tens of millions of civilians and for humanitarian teams working within the enclave.
Displaced Palestinians carry meals parcels and provides from a Gaza Humanitarian Basis help distribution level alongside the Netzarim Hall within the central Gaza Strip, August 4, 2025. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)
The conflict in Gaza started October 7, 2023, when hundreds of Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 folks and taking 251 hostages.
Twenty hostages are nonetheless believed to be alive in captivity, whereas twenty-eight have been confirmed lifeless, and Israel has expressed grave concern about two extra. The figures embrace the physique of a soldier killed in 2014.
Hamas launched 30 hostages — 20 Israeli civilians, 5 troopers, and 5 Thai nationals — and the our bodies of eight slain Israeli captives throughout a ceasefire between January and March, and one further hostage, a twin American-Israeli citizen, in Could as a “gesture” to america. The phobia group additionally freed 105 civilians throughout a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and 4 hostages have been launched earlier than that within the early weeks of the conflict.
In change, Israel has freed some 2,000 jailed Palestinian terrorists, safety prisoners, and Gazan terror suspects detained throughout the conflict.
Eight hostages have been rescued from captivity by troops alive, and the our bodies of 49 have additionally been recovered, together with three mistakenly killed by the Israeli navy as they tried to flee their captors, and the physique of a soldier who was killed in 2014.
