Hundreds of reservists of the Israeli Air Force ask to stop Gaza’s war

Hundreds of reservists and retired officers in the Israeli Air Force signed a letter on Thursday who urges the Israeli government to agree An agreement with Hamas Return the hostages, even at the price of stopping the war in Gaza.

The letter, which was signed by about a thousand people, including a former staff of the staff and other former Senior military leaders, put a growing gap into the Israeli army for the management of war. The aeronautics was a fundamental part of Israel’s effort in Gaza, Strike who flattened most of the enclave and left thousands of deaths.

The appeal reflected greater concern for the fate of the hostages after a torn over the rods between Israel and Hamas collapsed in mid -March. The hostages are in captivity of the militants in Gaza for more than 18 months.

The letter immediately obtained a reproach from the office of the Israeli Prime Minister, who stated that “the declarations that weaken the Israeli defense forces and strengthen our enemy during the war” were “unforgivable”.

The Israeli army declared that it had decided to download reserve active reservists who signed the letter, although the numbers that could be fired were not to be high. Most of the people who signed the list were not on active service, the military said. The times of the layoffs were not clear.

The letter was an unusually on a large scale of criticism by the members of the Air Force on the way the war was managed. The military branch, in particular, was a remarkable voice of opposition to the government.

The Air Force pilots threatened to stop serving in the army during national protests in 2023 against the efforts of the government deeply divisive to reduce the power of the institutions, including the Supreme Court, which had acted as a control of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The campaign was suspended after the attack led by Hamas in Israel in October 2023, but last month the government returned to the effort, approving legislation that gave politicians More control over the choice of judges.

In key points during the war, the best military officials have pressed for a ceased the fire Behind the scenes, hoping to bring more hostages home and give a tiring break. In January, Israel and Hamas accepted a fire, but the war resumed after Israel and Hamas did not extend it.

The letter Thursday said that continuing the war would lead to Deaths of the hostages And he claimed that he was guided by political interests rather than security.

“Stop the fighting and return all the hostages – now!” he said. “Every day that endangers his life.”

Mr. Netanyahu’s critics accused him give priority to its political survival For the return of the hostages. Netanyahu’s far -right coalition partners threatened to leave the coalition if the war ends without defeating Hamas.

The major general Nimrod Sheffer, a former Air Force officer Senior, said he had signed the letter because he felt that the hostages in Gaza were becoming increasingly vulnerable. The Israeli government claimed to believe that 24 of the remaining 59 hostages are alive.

“It is immoral to abandon 59 hostages in Gaza,” said General Sheffer in a telephone interview. “Someone must say strong and clear that they have to go home,” he added. “We can no longer be silent.”

For the Palestinians in Gaza, the renewed bombing campaign of Israel has caused immense devastation. More than 1,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the war was restarted, according to the Ministry of Health of Gaza, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its counts for victims.

Israeli officials said that air attacks targeted Hamas militants and their weapons infrastructures and that they should have increased the pressure on the group to free more hostages. Thursday, the Israeli army said she had killed a Hamas commander who had participated in the attack on October 7, 2023.

The civil defense of Gaza, an emergency rescue service under the Ministry of the Interior managed by Hamas, said on Wednesday that a strike in the Shajaiye district of Gaza City had Killed at least 23 peopleincluding eight children. Israel accused Hamas of incorporating into civil areas. The bodies of 40 people killed by Israel arrived at the Hospitals of Gaza on Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Health.

The last offensive of the Israeli army in Gaza included widespread evacuation orders, which include about half of the territory, according to an analysis of the New York Times of Israeli military maps. The satellite images also show that the Israeli army was taking Rafah, with the forces that closed in the southernmost city of Gaza by two directions.

Last week, Mr. Netanyahu said Israel would establish A new corridor in GazaWhich he mentioned would cut the territory in the southern city of Rafah from the rest of the strip. The Morag corridor seemed to take its name from a former Israeli settlement in the south of Gaza, from which Israel retired in 2005.

Samuel Granados AND Lauren Leatherby Contributed relationships.