According to three Israeli sources, Israel’s military chief has resisted Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to annex parts of Gaza that it does not already control, as the prime minister comes under mounting domestic and international criticism over the conflict.
Eyal Zamir, the military chief of staff, cautioned the prime minister during a heated three-hour meeting on Tuesday that capturing the remaining Gaza could trap the military, which withdrew from the region twenty years ago, and could endanger the hostages being held there, according to sources briefed on the meeting.
After almost two years of fighting, which started when the Islamist organization Hamas attacked villages in southern Israel in October 2023, the Israeli military claims to have taken control of 75% of Gaza.
