Israeli officers admit assault on Gaza kills captives
The Israeli government has not prioritised the safe return of captives amid its ongoing war on Palestinians in Gaza, a new investigation by Israeli news outlet Ynet has revealed.
According to the report published on Friday, both the government and the military are fully aware that army attacks pose a grave risk to the captives and have, in fact, already led to fatalities.
“The manoeuvre kills captives, not theoretically, it actually kills them,” a security source told Ynet.
The source cited a specific incident in November 2023 as an example, in which an Israeli air strike killed three Israeli captives along with a senior Hamas military commander, Ahmed Ghandour.
“That’s what happens when you're pursuing two conflicting objectives at the same time,” said the source, who holds a senior position in Israeli intelligence.
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He stated that his main task within intelligence had become “to save the hostages, mainly from ourselves”, referring to the extreme danger Israeli military operations are believed to pose to the hostages’ lives.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and top military officials have repeatedly insisted that continued military pressure is the only viable strategy to secure the release of captives, 59 of whom are still being held in Gaza.
“Ask any officer in the army today what the current war plan entails, beyond vague talk of 'pressure' to bring back the hostages,” the source said. “We’ve been trying that for 19 months. It doesn’t work.”
The source also described the planned expanded ground invasion as offering Hamas “two options: release the hostages and we will kill you, or don’t release them and we will still kill you. Of course, Hamas chooses the second option".
Captives never a priority
Haaretz reported earlier this week that securing the release of captives ranked at the bottom of six stated objectives for Israel’s upcoming expanded military assault in Gaza, code-named “Gideon’s Chariots”.
The primary goals of the operation reportedly include defeating Hamas, establishing operational control over Gaza, demilitarising the Palestinian enclave, dismantling Hamas governance infrastructure and “managing and mobilising” the civilian population - with captive recovery coming last.
According to the Ynet report, the return of the captive has not featured among the government’s central military objectives since the war began, despite public declarations that both defeating Hamas and rescuing the captives were official aims.
“A few days after the attack, [Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar offered to release the children, women and the elderly,” the Ynet investigation stated.
However, “Israel rushed to invade Gaza and no one thought about the hostages”, a security source told the outlet, criticising the government's early decision-making.
“The claim that both goals could be achieved simultaneously was never translated into an actual plan on the battlefield,” added a senior security source involved in shaping the war strategy.
Another military official quoted in the report described a year-and-a-half-long campaign of “psychological warfare and propaganda” within Israel, aimed at shaping public perception of the captives' issue.
According to the source, this campaign has had two main purposes: “to give the hostages’ families the impression that action is constantly being taken” and to suggest that “if Hamas refuses a deal, the blame lies entirely with them, not with Israel”.
Captives as cover for ‘war crimes’
As such, the newly announced expanded assault on Gaza, revealed last week, aligns closely with long-term Israeli strategic goals for the territory, according to the report.
The Israeli military is reportedly preparing to seize full control of the Gaza Strip, displace the entire population into a confined area in the south and restrict humanitarian aid to the bare minimum needed to prevent mass starvation - all as part of the new military phase expected to begin soon.
Netanyahu has repeatedly referred to his plan as the "final stage" of the war, despite mounting criticism from aid and rights groups that famine is threatening the entire population.
Since resuming its offensive on 18 March after reneging on a ceasefire deal, Israel has refused to allow any aid into the besieged enclave.
More than 2,720 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since then, raising the death toll since 7 October 2023 to over 52,800.
'With the help of an alibi in the form of the hostages, they will flatten all the buildings that remain standing'
- Israeli intelligence source
An Israeli intelligence source told Ynet that the military is using the captive as a pretext to justify the war.
“With the help of an alibi in the form of the hostages, they will flatten all the buildings that remain standing,” the source said.
The same source claimed the broader objective is to “encourage ‘voluntary emigration’, which essentially means expelling Palestinians from Gaza to make way for settlers”.
The expanded operation has been widely condemned by governments and international organisations around the world, who have warned of its catastrophic consequences for the civilian population.
Former Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon also admitted that the plan represents a “war crime” - whether you call it “ethnic cleansing, transfer, expulsion”.
He said the military would be “directing soldiers to become war criminals” by implementing the plan.
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