Israeli opposition leader says government faced ‘complete humiliation’ in Gaza

By Said Amouri

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman said Friday that Israel's government faced “complete humiliation” in Gaza, while “losing the north and continuing to surrender” to Hezbollah.

“The Israeli government lost the north and continues to surrender to Hezbollah, which does everything it can,” the head of Yisrael Beiteinu party wrote on X.

“Exactly eight months since the Oct. 7 attack, eight months in which instead of ‘complete victory’, we received complete humiliation,” he added.

He noted that the government “did not eliminate Hamas, and did not return all the abductees.”

“The time has come for a different leadership,” he added.

Lieberman has repeatedly called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation in recent times, accusing him of prioritizing his personal interests over Israel's.

However, Netanyahu has rejected early elections amid the ongoing war and has refused to take responsibility for the “failure” resulting from the Hamas surprise attack on Oct. 7.

Netanyahu faces widespread criticism within Israel for this “failure” and his government's handling of the prisoner issue in Gaza, while protests by the families of these prisoners continue in vital areas in central Tel Aviv.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack last Oct. 7 despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 36,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio