WEST BANK (Dispatches) – A group representing 550 former senior Zionist regime officials led by former Deputy Chief of Staff in the Israeli army, Major General (Reserves) Matan Vilnai, has warned against resuming the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Maariv newspaper reported.
In a joint letter addressed to the Zionist regime and the public, the officers said, “Israel is obligated to avoid endangering soldiers and captives [in Gaza] with empty slogans” adding that the current policy leads to a “violent occupation of the besieged Gaza Strip, and exacerbates the security nightmare in the West Bank.”
The letter added that the most dangerous front currently facing Israel is the internal front due to “national division and the attack on the security establishment”, stressing that the regime must release the Israeli captives as a first condition for any future action.
The signatories also warned that the regime’s support for displacing Palestinians from Gaza; a proposal put forward by U.S. President Donald Trump last month, jeopardized the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan, and the so-called Abraham Accords with Persian Gulf countries.
On January 19, a ceasefire-prisoner-swap agreement between Hamas and the Zionist regime came into effect, suspending 15 months of Israel’s genocidal war, which killed and wounded 160,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women.
The occupying regime has violated the ceasefire more than 100 times, killing over 100 Palestinians.
In the latest development, Hamas has proposed to release all captives remaining in the Gaza Strip in “one go” in exchange for a lasting truce and a complete Israeli army withdrawal from the besieged enclave.
In a statement on Wednesday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem outlined the group’s vision for the second phase of the ceasefire deal which includes the proposed exchange.
“We are ready for a second phase in which the prisoners will be exchanged in one go, within the criterion of reaching an agreement that leads to a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal from the Strip,” Qassem said.
The group also rejected the Zionist regime’s call for its disarmament and removal from the Strip.
“The occupation’s condition of removing Hamas from the Gaza Strip is a ridiculous psychological war, and the withdrawal or disarmament of the resistance from Gaza is unacceptable,” Qassem added.