Inside meeting on Israel’s Gaza plan: Nat’l Security Adv. opposes Netanyahu in rare move

N12 noted that Hanegbi’s opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is exceedingly rare.

National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi slammed Israel’s incoming occupation of Gaza City in the cabinet on Friday.

“I’m not willing to give up on saving the hostages,” said Hanegbi in the cabinet, as reported by N12 on Friday. “I don’t understand how someone who has watched the videos of Evyatar and Rom, and all those released before them, can support the statement ‘all or nothing.’ That means giving up the chance to rescue at least 10 hostages immediately, because Hamas won’t respond to that demand.”

“A ceasefire would allow us to try to reach an agreement on the remaining 10. I fully agree with the chief of staff that taking control of Gaza City jeopardizes the lives of the hostages, which is why I oppose the prime minister’s proposal,” he added.

The interim Mossad chief also expressed reservations about the occupation of Gaza City and called for a return to the negotiating table.

N12 noted that Hanegbi’s opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is exceedingly rare.

Ultimately, the cabinet decided that it would only return to the negotiating table if Hamas showed signs of a breakthrough, Channel 12 reported.

What happened in the cabinet meeting?

The security officials and Knesset representatives heavily debated the choice to occupy Gaza.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir disputed any deal that would result in a temporary occupation of the Gaza Strip.

“We must not stop halfway. If we go for a temporary deal, it’s a defeat,” said Smotrich, as reported by N12.

“Where are the days of Entebbe, where giving in to terror was out of the question?” Ben-Gvir asked.

In response, MK Arye Deri slammed his decision as a political choice, adding that “in Entebbe, they didn’t risk the lives of 300 kidnapped people,” according to the report. Deri reportedly said that it is immoral not to release the hostages.

Smotrich responded, “Is it moral for a hundred soldiers to be killed and then we retreat for ten kidnapped people?”

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir stated that the operation would risk the hostages’ lives as well as IDF soldiers.

“If we go with what you’re proposing, the hostages’ lives will be in danger. I suggest you remove the return of hostages from the war objectives,” Zamir said, as reported by N12.

“We’re not going to take full control of Gaza at all costs just to exert pressure on Hamas. There’s not enough civilian infrastructure and humanitarian resources to move a million-person population. We need to build hospitals for them,” he added.

In the discussion, Netanyahu notably refrained from calling the operation a full occupation of Gaza.

“Where did you get ‘occupation’ from? We want to take control of the land just as we’ve done so far in all the places,” he told the government’s legal advisor,Gali Baharav-Miara.

During a break in the meeting, MK Orit Strock reportedly yelled at hostage coordinator Gal Hirsch, who told senior IDF officials that he had requested that the goal to free the hostages appear in the IDF’s mission.

“What the hell, that’s not the mission – the mission is to eliminate Hamas,” she reportedly told him.

Strock said that the effort to return the captives is why soldiers are killed. Hirsch responded, according to the report, “Our soldiers fight to save civilians and return hostages. It’s always been that way. I did it myself. That’s how we are.”