Heavy Casualties, Grim Military Prospects – Israeli Army Officials Push for Ceasefire

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

According to Israeli media, top Israeli army officials are pushing Netanyahu to seal a ceasefire and swap deal.

The Israeli media reported that Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, and Israeli Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, are increasing pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seal a ceasefire deal in Gaza and Lebanon due to heavy Israeli casualties, the Lebanese news network Al-Mayadeen said.

Al-Mayadeen quoted the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post, as saying that the Israeli occupation army is looking to move towards a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, in light of the high number of casualties within the ranks of the Israeli army, due to strong resistance on both fronts and the grim prospects of achieving military gains.

According to The Jerusalem Post report, Gallant and Halevi have also urged the Israeli prime minister to work on a deal to secure the return of the 101 Israeli captives, alive or dead, from the Gaza Strip.   

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“Time is of the essence to return the hostages, which most officials now agree will only happen, if at all, through a deal of some kind with Hamas,” the Israeli newspaper quoted Gallant and Halevi as saying during an officer graduation ceremony on October 31.

These unfolding developments coincide with the confirmation of the Israeli Army Radio that 87 Israelis were killed in October, 64 of whom are officers, soldiers and security personnel and the rest are illegal settlers.

‘No Strategy’

On the topic of Israeli losses, Security Expert and Reserve Colonel in the Israeli army, Kobi Marom admitted to Israel’s Channel 12 that Tel Aviv, while fighting on seven fronts, lacks both a solid military strategy and a clear mechanism for resolution, Al-Mayadeen reported.

“Israel is facing a challenging battle in Lebanon, characterized by drone activity and missile barrages,” Marom told the Israeli channel.

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He added: “There is no doubt that there is a well-coordinated and sophisticated operation in place to challenge our systems.”

The reserve colonel told Channel 12 that “Hezbollah’s command and control system is being enhanced, along with its fire formation,” emphasizing that this is happening “amid the evacuation of settlement units and the disruption of commercial activities.”

War on Lebanon

Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, on October 7, 2023, the Lebanese movement Hezbollah has engaged directly, but relatively in a limited way in the war against the Israeli occupation.

Israel escalated its aggression with the cyber-terror attacks on September 17 and 18, which claimed the lives of at least 37 people including children, and injured around 3000 others.

This went hand in hand with a series of assassinations of Hezbollah leaders, including that of the Secretary-General of the resistance party Hassan Nasrallah on September 27.

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These developments coincided with unprecedented bombings and airstrikes by Israel’s army on different cities across Lebanon particularly in the south, Bekaa and the southern district of Beirut.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced on November 4 that 2, 986 Lebanese were killed and 13,402 were injured since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon.

The Lebanese Government Emergency Committee announced on October 29 that the number of shelters has reached 1,100 centers with maximum capacity.

The Head of the committee, Minister of Environment Nasser Yassin revealed that the total number of displaced people exceeds 1.2 million.

According to the committee,  355,910 Syrian nationals and 167,295 Lebanese nationals crossed into Syria from September 23 to October 29.

(PC, Al-Mayadeen)

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