Netanyahu leading Israel ‘from bad to worse’: Former chief of staff

By Abdelraouf Aranout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Former Israeli Chief of Staff Dan Halutz criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said he was leading Israel “from bad to worse.”

Halutz unleashed his criticism during an interview with Israeli Channel 13 late Tuesday as Tel Aviv continues a devastating onslaught against the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.

“He (Netanyahu) is responsible, and I don't know a country in the world where a prime minister would not climb the tallest tower and jump off of it after something like this,” said Halutz, referring to attacks by the Palestinian resistance group on Israel in early October.

Hamas launched attacks on Israeli military bases and settlements along the Gaza Strip “in response to the occupation's daily attacks on the Palestinian people and their sanctities, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque,” according to the Palestinian group.

Halutz said Netanyahu “refuses to acknowledge this because in his calendar, there is no Oct. 7, he has the sixth and the eighth, and on the eighth, the war began and he was fighting. But this man does not fight, he is leading us from bad to worse.”

Halutz, along with other Israeli figures, previously urged Netanyahu to resign as the prime minister is considering his personal political interests and is trying to stay in power after the fighting ends.

Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history, refuses to take responsibility for the attacks on Oct. 7 and opposes early elections.

There are increasing speculations in Israel that the results of investigations into the failure to confront the Hamas attacks and the course of the war against Gaza will lead to the dismissal of political, military and intelligence leaders, led by Netanyahu.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Palestinian territories since the cross-border attack killed 1,139 people.

More than 32,000 Palestinians have since been killed and 75,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.​​​​​​​

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala