By Zein Khalil
JERUSALEM (AA) - Former Israeli Army Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said the only way to secure the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza is to halt the war with Hamas, a report said Wednesday.
He made the remarks in a speech delivered to a gathering of Jewish people in the US which was broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12.
Kochavi stepped down from his position about nine months prior to Hamas's sudden attack on settlements adjacent to the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7 last year. However, many Israelis view him as one of the officials responsible for the security failure leading to those events, according to the broadcaster.
“I don’t think there's a way to bring back the hostages without stopping the war, for now," he said.
“Iran was the top priority. We were preparing the military vis-à-vis Iran. We did not perceive the Gaza Strip and Hamas as an existential threat. The grand strategy was to focus on Iran and the northern arena, to prepare the military and to do whatever we can to pacify the other arenas.
“There was, however, an attempt to eliminate Hamas chiefs Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, but it’s hard. In very densely populated, heavily built-up areas — it’s very hard, so we had been working for months in order to procure the operation, but we couldn’t,” he added.
Regarding the situation on the northern front, Kochavi said “the only way to end the battle with (the Lebanese group) Hezbollah is to halt the war in Gaza.”
“It's hard to believe that we will achieve the desired situation in the north through diplomatic channels, and the other option is a military operation.”
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas which killed about 1,200 people.
More than 34,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,100 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Over seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala