IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Sunday, during a visit to the Gaza Strip, that the fighting against the Hamas terror group there is “not an endless war.”
“We are intensifying our activity in accordance with the orderly plan. Hamas is under tremendous pressure; it has lost most of its assets and its command and control,” Zamir said during a tour of southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, alongside Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor.
“We will activate all of our tools so that we can return the hostages home, defeat Hamas, and dismantle its rule,” he continued, according to an Israel Defense Forces statement.
“This is not an endless war,” he said, “we will act to shorten it per the fulfillment of its objectives.”
“We seek to achieve a decisive victory, and we will do so with determination, thoroughness, and while ensuring the safety of our forces,” Zamir added.
Zamir’s remark came after it was reported on Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nominee for Shin Bet head, Maj. Gen. David Zini, had told colleagues in the military: “I’m against hostage deals. This is an eternal war.”
Zamir dismissed Zini from the military on Friday, after the latter held talks with Netanyahu behind the IDF chief of staff’s back — though the military later said that Zini “was not dismissed from the IDF,” but rather “agreed that he would retire.”
Channel 12 reported Saturday that Zini criticized Zamir’s predecessor Herzi Halevi several months ago over his stance on the hostage issue, saying, “You prioritize the return of the hostages over destroying Hamas.”
Alongside that comment, the network reported that several senior military sources, speaking off the record, said they heard that Zini has made repeated comments against deals for the return of the hostages.
Netanyahu on Sunday denied allegations that last year, he refused to appoint Zini as his military secretary due to him being “too messianic.”
It is still uncertain whether Zini will ultimately be appointed Shin Bet chief, owing to the legal problems over Netanyahu’s involvement in the process, following the High Court of Justice’s determination that he had a conflict of interest in firing the security agency’s outgoing head, Ronen Bar.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.