Israel’s new Gaza plan ‘sacrificing’ captives: Families
As we reported earlier, Israel is calling up tens of thousands of reservists to expand the war on Gaza. The families of Israeli captives held in Gaza say this new plan is “sacrificing” their loved ones.
“The plan approved by the cabinet deserves to be called the ‘Smotrich-Netanyahu Plan’ for sacrificing the hostages,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
Israeli public ‘doesn’t understand the point’ of new military call-ups
Much of the Israeli public does not support the government’s decision to call up tens of thousands of reservists for an expanded Gaza offensive, and there are fears many of those drafted may not report for duty, says former Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas.
“They don’t get it. They don’t understand what the point is,” Pinkas told Al Jazeera. “They don’t understand that conceivable attainable military objectives can be won after 18 months of this war in Gaza, he said, noting that the previous offensive failed to bring all the captives home.
“If the idea is to occupy the entire Gaza Strip – fine, by all means, go and occupy it, but then you own the Gaza Strip, which is something Israel says it doesn’t want,” he added.
Israel’s top military leadership is worried about draft resistance, but the scale of the issue remains unclear, he said. The consequences, he noted, will depend on who stays away.
“If it’s a guy who just drives a truck, then he’s replaceable. If it’s a fighter pilot, if it’s an armour battalion commander, if it’s infantry company commander, that’s a bigger problem.”
Captive’s mother urges Israeli reservists to ignore call-up orders
Einav Zangauker, whose 25-year-old son Matan is a captive in Gaza, has opposed the Israeli government’s latest reserve call-ups during a Constitution Committee meeting, according to Israel’s Arutz Sheva media.
“You must not report for reserve duty – for moral and ethical reasons,” she said, prompting backlash from several MPs, one of whom called for her removal from the session, according to Arutz Sheva.
Einav Zangauker, the mother of Matan, who has been held captive with others in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, addresses relatives and supporters at the Gaza border near kibbutz Nir Oz
