Death of five Israeli soldiers fuels debate over ending Gaza war

A majority of Israelis want an end to the fighting in return for the release of hostages, while right-wing members of the government want to keep going, saying Hamas remains undefeated.

Five Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in the Gaza Strip in one of the deadliest days for Israeli forces in the region this year. Picture: AFP

Five Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hamas ambush in northern Gaza, Israel’s military said Tuesday, adding to a string of deadly incidents for Israeli troops that are fuelling a debate over ending the war.

Since the end of Israel and Iran’s 12-day conflict in late June, at least 17 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the Gaza Strip, one of the deadliest periods since the fighting began after a Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The deaths show that even 21 months into the war, Hamas is still able to carry out a guerrilla warfare campaign.

The five soldiers were killed late Monday night in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun, a town located near the border with Israel and the site of numerous Israeli ground operations since the start of the war.

The soldiers were walking along a road when several improvised explosive devices exploded at once, an Israeli military official said. When rescue teams arrived to evacuate the wounded, Hamas militants opened fire on them.

Benjamin Netanyahu with Donald Trump during a dinner in the Blue Room of the White House on Monday. Picture: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The ambush appeared planned and showed a level of sophistication and boldness by the militant group not seen in its most recent attacks, the official said.

The rising death toll comes as Hamas and Israel are in the middle of negotiating a 60-day ceasefire that would include the release of 10 of the remaining living Israeli hostages held by the group.

Those talks and the recent deaths of troops are spurring a debate between Israelis who believe the war should end and those among Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing base, who say the recent Hamas attacks show the group remains undefeated.

“For our soldiers, for their families, for the hostages, for the state of Israel: this war must end,” Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on X in response to the deaths of the five soldiers.

Polls show a majority of Israelis want to end the war in return for the release of some 50 hostages still held by Hamas and others in Gaza, 20 of whom are still believed alive.

Still, some members of Netanyahu’s coalition argue that the successful attacks by Hamas show that Israel’s military strategy hasn’t succeeded in defeating the group. Instead, they want the military to move civilians into a designated zone in Gaza’s south while it besieges Hamas fighters left behind until they are defeated.

“What we need in Gaza is an effective siege,” said Amit Halevi, a lawmaker in Netanyahu’s Likud party and a member of the foreign affairs and defence parliamentary committee. “We cannot send our soldiers into the same places again and again in a way that doesn’t bring us to victory.” Halevi said claims by Israeli military leadership that Hamas is largely a defeated organisation are inaccurate. Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza have around 35,000 fighters, nearly the same number they began the war with 21 months ago, said Halevi, citing intelligence relayed to lawmakers.

Israeli army soldiers carry the casket of fallen staff sergeant Noam Aharon, who was killed while fighting in the Gaza Strip, during his funeral in Jerusalem on July 8, Picture: AFP

Israel’s military estimates it has killed around 21,000 militants in Gaza since the war began.

Israeli military officials and security analysts argue that the new recruits are barely trained and inexperienced, and that the command structure of Hamas’s brigades has broken down.

Hamas, in a statement attributed to the spokesman of its militant branch Abu Ubaida, called Monday night’s attack a complex operation in a battlefield Israel “assumed to be secure after leaving no stone unturned.” The soldiers killed in the incident were mostly from an ultraorthodox unit that had just re-entered Gaza.

Many in Israel argue that Israeli soldiers are exhausted from 21 months of fighting, and that is also leading to deadly errors.

Late in June, the same day Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire after a 12-day war in which no Israeli troops were killed, seven Israeli soldiers were killed inside an armoured vehicle.

Video released by Hamas showed a militant walking right up the armoured vehicle and tossing a bomb into the open hatch before running away.

Family members of the soldiers killed in the armoured vehicle said they had complained of being tired after nearly two years of war.

The Israeli military’s chief, Eyal Zamir, told the government last week that he prefers moving toward a hostage deal, as further operations will threaten the lives of hostages while the benefit of further weakening Hamas is unclear, according to Israeli officials.

“We are very close to a decision-making crossroads,” Zamir told troops during a visit to Gaza on Monday.

Wall Street Journal