A group of some 600 retired Israeli security officials, including former heads of intelligence agencies, have written to US President Donald Trump to pressure Israel to immediately end the war in Gaza.
“It is our professional judgement that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel,” the officials said.
“Your credibility with the vast majority of Israelis augments your ability to steer Prime Minister Benjamin]Netanyahu and his government in the right direction: End the war, return the hostages, stop the suffering,” they wrote.
Their appeal comes amid reports that Netanyahu is pushing to expand military operations in Gaza as indirect ceasefire talks with Hamas have stalled.
Israel launched a devastating war in Gaza following Hamas’s attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023 in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken into Gaza as hostages.
More than 60,000 people have been killed as a result of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says.
On Monday, the ministry reported that at least 94 people had been killed in Gaza in the past day, including dozens it said had died in Israeli strikes.
At least 24 people had been killed while seeking aid, it added. Such reports have become almost daily in recent months but are hard to verify as international journalists, including the BBC, are blocked by Israel from entering Gaza independently.
The territory is also experiencing mass deprivation as a result of heavy restrictions imposed by Israel on what is allowed into Gaza. The ministry says 180 people, including 93 children, have died from malnutrition since the start of the war.
UN-backed agencies have said the “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out” in Gaza.
