Netanyahu hints at expanded war in Gaza but former Israeli military and spy chiefs object

JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at wider military action in devastated Gaza on Tuesday, even as former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs called for an end to the nearly 22-month war.

The new pressure on Netanyahu came as Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll had surpassed 61,000. Health officials reported new deaths of hungry Palestinians seeking food at distribution points. As desperation mounts, the Israeli defense body coordinating aid announced a deal with local merchants to improve aid deliveries.

Former security officials speaking out included previous leaders of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service, Mossad spy agency and the military – and ex-Prime Minister Ehud Barak. In a video posted to social media this week, they said far-right members of the government are holding Israel “hostage” in prolonging the conflict.

Netanyahu’s objectives in Gaza are “a fantasy,” Yoram Cohen, former head of Shin Bet, said in the video.

“If anyone imagines that we can reach every terrorist and every pit and every weapon, and in parallel bring our hostages home – I think it is impossible,” he said.

Netanyahu announced Monday that he would convene his Security Cabinet to direct the military on the war’s next stage, hinting that even tougher action was possible. That meeting has begun, according to an Israeli official familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity because there was no formal announcement.

Netanyahu said his objectives include defeating Hamas, releasing all 50 remaining hostages and ensuring Gaza never again threatens Israel after the Hamas-led 2023 attack sparked the war.

Israeli media reported disagreements between Netanyahu and the army chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, on how to proceed. The reports, citing anonymous officials in Netanyahu’s office, said the prime minister was pushing the army, which controls about three quarters of Gaza, to conquer the entire territory – a step that could endanger hostages, deepen the humanitarian crisis and further isolate Israel internationally.

Various reports have said Zamir opposes this step and could step down or be pushed out if it is approved. Israeli officials did not respond to requests for comment on the reports.

Egypt is a mediator in ceasefire talks, and its President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said Israel’s war in Gaza has become a “war of starvation, genocide and liquidation of the Palestinian cause.”

El-Sissi said the war no longer aims at achieving political aims or releasing the hostages. He reiterated his call for European governments and U.S. President Donald Trump to help stop the war and deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza’s over 2 million people. Long lines of trucks waiting to enter Gaza from Egypt have been a recurring image of the war.

Egypt has strong security ties with Israel.

Health officials in Gaza said Israeli forces opened fire Tuesday morning toward Palestinians seeking aid and in targeted attacks in central and southern Gaza, killing at least 25 people.

Israel’s military did not immediately comment.

The dead included 19 in southern Gaza, 12 of them seeking aid near the Morag corridor and in the Teina area, some 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation hub east of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital and the Health Ministry.

The ministry doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians but says roughly half the dead have been women and children. It operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of casualty data.

Elsewhere in central Gaza, Al-Awda hospital said it received the bodies of six Palestinians who were killed when Israeli troops targeted crowds near another GHF aid distribution site.

The GHF said there were no incidents at its sites Tuesday.

Several hundred Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since May while heading toward food distribution sites, airdropped parcels and aid convoys, according to witnesses, local health officials and the U.N. human rights office. Israel’s military says it only has fired warning shots and disputes the toll.

The Israeli defense body in charge of coordinating aid, COGAT, said on social media there will be a “gradual and controlled renewal of the entry of goods through the private sector in Gaza.”

It said a limited number of local merchants were approved for the plan.

Mohammed Qassas from Khan Younis said his young children are so hungry that he is forced to storm aid trucks, which rarely reach warehouses these days because they are stopped by hungry crowds.

“How am I supposed to feed them? No one has mercy. This resembles the end of the world,” he said Monday. “If we fight, we get the food. If we don’t fight, we don’t get anything.”

It has become routine to see men returning from aid-seeking carrying bodies as well as sacks of flour.

Yusif Abu Mor from Khan Younis called the current aid system akin to a death trap.

“This aid is stained with humiliation and blood,” he said, adding that aid seekers run the risk of being shot dead by Israel’s military or run over by trucks in the chaotic crowds.

Israel’s blockade and military offensive have made it nearly impossible to safely deliver aid, contributing to the territory’s slide toward famine. Aid groups say Israel’s week-old measures to allow more aid in are far from sufficient.

Families of hostages in Gaza fear starvation affects them too, but blame Hamas.

As international alarm has mounted, several countries have airdropped aid over Gaza. The U.N. and aid groups call such drops costly and dangerous for residents, and say they deliver far less aid than trucks.

Palestinians gather daily for funeral prayers.

“We are unarmed people who cannot endure this,” shouted Maryam Abu Hatab in the yard of Nasser hospital.

Ekram Nasr said her son was shot dead while seeking aid near the Morag corridor.

“I had to go alone to carry my son,” she said, tears in her eyes. “I collected the remains of my son like the meat of dogs from the streets.”

She added: “The entire world is watching. They are watching our patience, our strength and our faith in God. But we no longer have the power to endure.”

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Shurafa reported from Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed.