Widening crisis in the Middle East: Israeli war cabinet member exposes rifts in government

General Eisenkot, a retired military chief of staff, is a non-voting member of Israel's five-member war cabinet, which has made many of the key decisions regarding the Gaza battle. He joined Israel's wartime emergency government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, from an opposition faction after the Hamas-led terror attack on October 7.

General Eisenkot's views carry extra weight because of the personal price he paid in the war: his 25-year-old son, Master Sgt. Gal Meir Eisenkot, was killed during fighting in Gaza last month, as did a cousin.

The television interview, which was pre-recorded, exposed some of the lingering tensions within the emergency government.

General Eisenkot said Mr Netanyahu bore “sharp and clear” responsibility for the country's failure to protect its citizens on October 7. Mr. Netanyahu has generally avoided joining other top officials in taking responsibility for the attack and its aftermath, saying he would investigate the failures that would come after the war.

The general also said that Israeli leaders must formulate a vision on how to end the war in Gaza, and on its desired outcome. His comments contrasted with statements from other Israeli officials, including Mr Netanyahu, who said on Thursday that the war would continue for many months.

General Eisenkot said only a deal with Hamas could secure further releases of people taken hostage in the October 7 attacks. Israeli authorities say more than 130 people remain trapped in Gaza.

“For me there is no dilemma,” he said. “The mission is to save civilians before an enemy is killed.”

Mr. Netanyahu has insisted that Israel remains focused on freeing the hostages even as the Israeli army, under pressure from the United States and other supporters to ease the fighting, withdraws some troops from Gaza. Since the conflict began, at least 25 hostages have been killed in captivity, including at least one in a failed rescue attempt, according to Israeli officials. In December soldiers three hostages wrongly identified as fighters and shot them.

General Eisenkot said that a heroic rescue mission – such as the 1976 Entebbe attack in which Israeli commandos saved the lives of 103 people aboard a hijacked plane in Uganda – “won't happen” because the hostages were dispersed and largely held underground.

His comments addressed one of Israel's central dilemmas in the war: whether it should continue to punish Hamas, risking the lives of its hostages, or agree to a ceasefire in exchange for their freedom .

During the hour-long broadcast of the interview, he appeared to favor a deal to free the hostages, even if Israel had to accept an extended ceasefire with Hamas. He lamented that a weeklong ceasefire last November, in which groups of hostages were released daily in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, had expired, saying it would be difficult to achieve a second similar arrangement.

The general also appeared to confirm that some top officials had pushed for it early in the war pre-emptive strikes on Hezbollahthe powerful Lebanese militia that Israel has clashed with almost daily since October 7. The prospect of Israel entering a two-front war has long deeply troubled American and Israeli military planners, and General Eisenkot said he believed in his party's presence in the fighting The emergency government prevented a full-blown conflict with Hezbollah, which, he said, would have been “a very serious strategic error.”

The general also talked about it Public confidence in the Israeli government has been damaged and urged new elections “within months.” Netanyahu's coalition of right-wing parties still has a majority in Parliament outside the emergency government, giving it influence over when elections could take place.

While elections could threaten wartime unity, “the Israeli public's lack of confidence in its government is no less acute,” he said.