Netanyahu threatens to dismiss military personnel calling for prisoner exchange by ending Gaza war

JERUSALEM / ANKARA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday threatened to “immediately dismiss” the military personnel who signed petitions calling for an end to the war in Gaza as a means of securing the release of Israeli captives held in the enclave.

Hundreds of soldiers and reserve officers from various Israeli military branches, including the air force and navy, signed letters in recent days advocating for a ceasefire in exchange for the return of Israeli hostages.

In a statement issued by his office, Netanyahu warned that any military personnel involved in “encouraging rebellion” or refusing to serve would be “fired immediately.”

Netanyahu accused those signing the letters of “refusing military service,” a claim that the petitioners denied.

He downplayed the significance of the anti-war messages, suggesting that similar letters had been signed multiple times by different groups within the military, such as pilots, navy veterans, and others.

Netanyahu suggested that the letters were not written by “our heroic soldiers” but by a “small handful of fringe elements … a noisy minority backed by foreign-funded NGOs whose only goal is to bring down the right-wing government.”

The Israeli army renewed its assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering the Jan. 19 ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

Nearly 51,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks. The military campaign has left the enclave in ruins and rendered it almost uninhabitable.

Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza by the International Criminal Court.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.