Hundreds of retired Israeli security officials, including former heads of intelligence agencies, have urged US President Donald Trump to pressure Israel's leadership to end the war in Gaza even as it vows to expand its fighting in the strip.
“It is our professional judgment that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel,” the former officials wrote in an open letter, shared with the media on Monday.
“At first this war was a just war, a defensive war, but when we achieved all military objectives, this war ceased to be a just war,” said Ami Ayalon, former director of the Shin Bet security service.
The war, nearing its 23rd month, “is leading the state of Israel to lose its security and identity”, Mr Ayalon warned in a video released to accompany the letter.
Signed by 550 people, including former chiefs of Shin Bet and the Mossad spy agency, the letter called on Mr Trump to “steer” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu towards a ceasefire.
Separately, 19 former Israeli security chiefs, including former heads of the army, intelligence services and police, appeared in a video on Monday calling for the war to end. They said they all “sat in cabinet meetings, operated in the inner circles, attended all the most sensitive decision-making processes”.
“Together they have more than a thousands years’ experience in national security and in diplomacy,” they added in the video, in which they declared that Israel is “on the precipice of defeat”.
Mr Netanyahu on Monday said he would convene a cabinet meeting later in the week to decide on how to proceed in the war. Ministers will instruct troops on "how to achieve the three war objectives we have set," the Israeli leader said. "We must continue to stand together and fight together to achieve them."
Israel launched its war on Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israeli communities, in which militants killed about 1,200 people and abducted about 240.
The Israeli army has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians − mostly children and women − and caused starvation by using aid as a weapon.
In recent weeks, Israel has come under increasing international pressure to agree to a ceasefire that could see the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza released and UN agencies distribute humanitarian aid. But some in Israel, including ministers in Mr Netanyahu's coalition government, are instead pushing for Israeli troops to push on and for Gaza to be occupied in whole or in part.
Shortly after the letter was published, the US outlet Axios reported that more than a dozen Democrats in the House of Representatives had signed a letter urging Mr Trump to recognise a Palestinian state, a significant development in the staunchly pro-Israel party.
Despite mounting condemnation, the Israeli outlet Haaretz reported on Sunday that the military leadership is expected to approve plans to expand operations in Gaza and free hostages “by force”. The reported proposals include starting operations inside refugee camps and areas where operations have so far not taken place for fear of harming hostages being held there.
Three former Mossad leaders signed the letter. Other signatories include five former leaders of Shin Bet and three former military chiefs of staff.
The letter argued that the Israeli army “has long accomplished the two objectives that could be achieved by force: dismantling Hamas's military formations and governance”.
“The third, and most important, can only be achieved through a deal: bringing all the hostages home,” it added. “Chasing remaining senior Hamas operatives can be done later,” the letter said.
In the letter, the former officials tell Mr Trump that he has credibility with the majority of Israelis and can put pressure on Mr Netanyahu to end the war and return the hostages.
After a ceasefire, the signatories argue, Mr Trump could force a regional coalition to support a reformed Palestinian Authority to take charge of Gaza as an alternative to Hamas rule.
