"Hamas is no longer a threat": 600 former Israeli security officials call on Trump to end the Gaza war

BarcelonaA group of 600 retired Israeli security officials, including former heads of intelligence agencies, have asked Donald Trump in a letter to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza. The text is blunt: "Our professional judgment is that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel." They also underscore the role that US President Donald Trump could play: "His credibility among the vast majority of Israelis increases his ability to lead Prime Minister Netanyahu and his administration in the right direction: to end the war, return the hostages, and end the suffering."

The letter coincides with leaks to the Israeli press that the Chief of Staff is preparing an expansion of Israeli military operations in the Strip, including in large refugee camps, where ground incursions have so far been avoided because they are believed to endanger the hostages. The forum has reacted to the news of the expansion of military operations by denouncing that Netanyahu "is leading Israel and the hostages to their deaths."

Ceasefire negotiations in Doha are at an impasse: Netanyahu is delaying the agreement despite pressure for a truce that would allow the release of the hostages. On Saturday, 60,000 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv at the call of the forum that brings together the families of the captives to demand a ceasefire. after Hamas released a video showing one of the kidnapped Israelis digging his own graveHamas has accepted the Israeli prime minister's demand to allow the Red Cross to deliver food to the hostages if Israel agrees to open humanitarian corridors to deliver aid to the population, which is suffering from the world's worst hunger crisis. Israeli authorities have only allowed 84 trucks into Gaza daily since July 27, when according to the UN and international organizations the minimum allowable is 600.

Images of hunger caused by the blockade imposed by Israel on the entry of goods For the past five months, they have generated international condemnation, and some of Israel's major allies (the United Kingdom, France, and Canada) have expressed their willingness to recognize a virtual Palestinian state in a symbolic gesture of political pressure. According to Gaza health authorities, 180 Palestinians, including 93 children, have died of starvation in Gaza since the start of the war. The UN has warned that the Strip is already experiencing "the worst-case scenario of hunger." These allegations have led Israeli NGOs and intellectuals to speak of "genocide" in Gaza for the first time. At least 67 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on Monday, including 30 people waiting to collect humanitarian aid. A nurse died at the Deir Al Balah hospital, in the center of the Strip, when he was hit by a food package dropped from the air.

The letter from the Israeli officials claims that "at first this war was only a war, a defensive war, but after achieving all military objectives, it is no longer just a war." The text, addressed to Trump, is signed by such notable figures as Tamir Pardo, former head of the Mossad (Israeli spy services); Ami Ayalon, former head of the Shin Bet (internal intelligence services); former Prime Minister Ehud Barak; and former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon. The former heads of Israel's Security Commanders also urged Netanyahu to accept the truce: "You did it in Lebanon. The time has come to do it in Gaza too."

I vote to dismiss the attorney general who prosecuted Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government continues maneuvering to limit internal pressure. The governing coalition parties voted unanimously this Monday in Parliament to dismiss Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, the person most responsible for Netanyahu's prosecution in the courts and a vocal critic of his policy of curtailing judicial independence. However, her dismissal has been suspended by a decision of the Supreme Court. Current regulations stipulate that the appointment and dismissal of the attorney general are the responsibility of a professional committee independent of the government, including representatives from Parliament and legal experts.

Baharav-Miara said in a letter to ministers that the government is effectively dismissing her from the corruption cases against Netanyahu "with new rules designed to achieve the desired sentence." She also warned that "the government will now be able to dismiss any attorney general without any oversight mechanism, in retaliation for having warned against illegal actions or ordered the investigation of a minister, or as part of a political agreement." The prosecutor has said that this can "influence the criminal trial against Netanyahu and the ongoing investigations in which his ministers and advisors are implicated." Another hot case is the so-called Qatargate, in which officials very close to the prime minister are being tried for having received bribes from Qatar. Baharav-Miara refuses to resign and continues to perform his duties, with the support of figures from the sector and the security establishment. Haaretz, the government plans to stop inviting her to cabinet meetings, which would limit her ability to act.