Israel Must Make a Deal, Not Perpetual War

Of the 251 Israelis abducted to Gaza on October 7, 2023, 41 were either murdered by their captors because the Israel Defense Forces were getting too close – after surviving for months – or killed by IDF fire. Even the army doesn't challenge the conclusion that its maneuvers endanger the hostages and could lead to them being killed.

Yet even though there's a deal on the table, the IDF is currently calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists for an extensive war. According to the plan, approved by Defense Minister Israel Katz, the second phase of Operation Gideon's Chariots will continue into 2026 and 130,000 reservists will once again be called up to serve. The government approved the operation despite the warnings of senior army officers and despite tough questions regarding its purpose in achieving the war's goals, the erosion of the conscript army, the heavy burden reservists are carrying, and the heavy economic price, which threatens the stability of Israel's economy.

The decision to launch one military operation after another is killing soldiers, it is killing the hostages instead of saving them and it is sowing more and more deaths in Gaza's civilian population. It also ignores the global revulsion at Israel.

On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets to demand an end to the war and the return of the hostages. The clear message those jam-packed streets sent the government was echoed by the many other people who chose to stop being customers for a day and not buy anything. The Israeli public has repeatedly urged the government to come to its senses, stop the killing, choose life, end the war and bring the hostages home.

A hostage deal, even if it's only a partial deal on bad terms, is preferable to more dead hostages and soldiers. But in fact, this is exactly the deal that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded for months. His decision to race into another military operation and change his demands – now he's only interested in a comprehensive deal – once again raises questions about the sincerity of his intentions.

The choice of death rather than life is a disaster. And it isn't only a disaster for the families that will lose their loved ones; it's also a disaster for Israel's cohesion, its resilience and its future. Instead of turning to the tasks of recovery and rehabilitation, the government is leading the country into perpetual war. This appears to be the only purpose, the only goal and the only horizon this government of failure and abandonment is offering us.