By Olivier Acuña Barba •
Printed: 05 Aug 2025 • 22:14
• 2 minutes learn
Hamas flag painted on a cracked wall with a terrorist’s shadow. Former Israeli officers say this group is now not a risk and name on a ceasefire for Gaza | Credit score: zmotions/Shutterstock
Affirming that Hamas now not poses a risk, some 600 retired Israeli safety officers, together with former intelligence bosses, have requested US President Donald Trump to exert strain on Israel to finish the warfare in Gaza instantly.
“It’s our skilled judgement that Hamas now not poses a strategic risk to Israel,” the officers stated in a bunch assertion. “Your credibility with the overwhelming majority of Israelis augments your capacity to steer Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and his authorities in the proper path: Finish the warfare, return the hostages, cease the struggling.”
One of many signatories, ex-domestic intelligence company chief Ami Ayalon, instructed the BBC that additional army motion could be ineffective.
‘Hamas is completely destroyed’
“From the army viewpoint, [Hamas] is completely destroyed. However, as an ideology, it’s getting an increasing number of energy among the many Palestinian individuals, throughout the Arab avenue round us, and likewise on the earth of Islam,” Ayalon stated. “So the one method to defeat Hamas’s ideology is to current a greater future.”
It’s unclear what they anticipate from Trump, who has constantly backed Israel. Nevertheless, final week, he publicly accepted there was “actual hunger” in Gaza after Netanyahu insisted there was no such factor.
Unfazed by opposition to his plans for the Palestine territories, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to suggest absolutely reoccupying the Gaza Strip when he meets his safety cupboard, the BBC reported on Tuesday night, August fifth.
Netanyahu needs ‘full conquest of Gaza’
“The die has been solid. We’re going for the complete conquest of the Gaza Strip – and defeating Hamas,” native journalists quote a senior official as saying, in response to the British information outlet.
Israel’s army has reported that it already controls 75 per cent of Gaza. However below the proposed plan, it might occupy the whole territory – shifting into areas the place greater than two million Palestinians at the moment are concentrated.
About 90 per cent of Gaza’s 2.1 million individuals have already been displaced, some repeatedly, and reside in overcrowded and dire situations.
The households of Hamas’ hostages need Netanyahu’s plans to maneuver ahead as a result of they consider that in any other case, their kinfolk are vulnerable to dying, with 20 out of fifty nonetheless thought-about to be alive in Gaza.
However other than the group of 600 former Jewish state safety and intelligence officers, polls of Israelis recommend that three in 4 are additionally in favour of a ceasefire.
A number of of Israel’s closest allies additionally condemn Netanyahu’s transfer as they push for an finish to the warfare and motion to alleviate a humanitarian disaster.