Netanyahu Escalates Feud With Israeli Military Leaders

Netanyahu's pledges of “total victory” against Hamas are at odds with his military leadership, which has signaled that it wants to ease combat operations in Gaza and that only a cease-fire can bring home the remaining Israeli hostages.

Mr. Netanyahu's at home is the feud with his military leadership, which also escalated this week.

Going public with frustrations that have simmered for months, the armed forces’ chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, appeared to criticize Mr. Netanyahu’s oft-repeated call for “absolute victory,” saying: “The idea that it is possible to destroy Hamas, to make Hamas vanish — that is throwing sand in the eyes of the public.”

The military has indicated that it wants to wind down the fighting in Gaza, saying on Wednesday that it was relaxing some wartime restrictions on Israeli communities near the border and that it was very close to defeating Hamas’s forces in Rafah, the city it has described as the armed group’s last stronghold.

But Mr. Netanyahu has shown no sign of wanting to end the war, refusing to endorse a U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal to pause hostilities, free hostages and open talks on a permanent truce. On Thursday, after meeting with families of hostages at his office in Jerusalem, Mr. Netanyahu signaled that he wanted Israeli troops to keep fighting.

“When we are in Gaza, the pressure changes; our activity creates opportunities to return the hostages,” he said, according to a statement from his office. “We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all of the hostages return, and we will not leave until we eliminate Hamas’s military and governing capabilities.