Thousands of Israeli soldiers call for end to war in Gaza

Nearly 1,000 current and former Israel Air Force reservists signed a letter last Thursday suppporting an end to the war in Gaza, which they say “chiefly serves political and personal interests, rather than security interests at this point.”

The letter demands "the immediate return of all our hostages without delay, even at the cost of stopping the war immediately" and asserts that “the continuation of the war does not contribute to any of its stated goals and will lead to the death of abductees, IDF soldiers and innocent civilians, and to the attrition of reservists.”

Over the past week, more than a dozen other IDF units and security officials, representing thousands of serving and retired personnel, have issued similar letters. They include the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, the Medical Corps, Navy captains, infantry, paratroopers, artillery, a special missions unit, offensive cyber unit, Mossad, Shin Bet, National Security College graduates, and ex-senior police officials.

Letters of support for the reservists have been issued by civilian groups representing thousands of former diplomats, writers, academics and educators.

Most of those signing the letters are retired with between 10 and 20 % still in active service, according to varied reports.

In a controversial move, the IDF Chief of Staff and the Air Force Commander has dismissed reservists who signed the letter. “It is impossible for someone who works a shift in a cockpit to later come out and express a lack of confidence in the mission. This is an impossible anomaly,” the IDF said in a statement.

The move to clamp down on public protest appeared aimed at stemming increasingly vocal discontent among reservists and preventing a repeat of 2023, when waves of reservists announced they would refuse to serve in protest of Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul efforts.

Nearly all of those reservists ultimately responded to call-ups after Israel was attacked on October 7, but that wartime unity has begun to unravel as the war drags on.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Katz condemned the letter and praised the decision to dismiss the signatories. Netanyahu labelled the letter the product of “an extreme fringe group that is once again trying to break Israeli society from within.” “Refusal is refusal—whether it is stated explicitly or disguised in euphemistic language,” he said.

The protests by hundreds of reservists have prompted the army to reduce the presence of reservists in areas of active combat and limit the number of call-up notices, Yaniv Kubovich and Bar Peleg report in Haaretz.

Officers argue that the reservists' lack of faith in the army's current mission could undermine the implementation of war plans at a time when it is already facing challenges in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank. To reduce its dependence on reservists, many of whom are finding it difficult to report for duty for a variety of reasons unrelated to the protest movement, the Israel Defense Forces is sending more units from the conscript army to the Gaza Strip.

Sources in the army said that IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir’s decision to suspend air force reservists who signed the protest letter has had the opposite effect of what he had hoped, encouraging more reservists to sign similar letters.

Realising the need for damage control, Zamir is expected to meet again with representatives of the air force signatories, and he may also invite reservists from other units to express their concerns. Army sources claim the decision to dismiss the reservists was made under indirect pressure from the government.

In support of the reservists, hundreds of Israeli writers, poets, and literary figures signed a petition on Sunday calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza, the return of the hostages, and a clear plan for the future of Gaza and its residents.

The signatories attributed the continuation of the war to the ulterior motives of Prime Minister Netanyahu and accused him of undermining “the most basic values of Israel as a civilised society, a democratic society, and also the values of the Declaration of Independence.” Among those who signed the statement—which was created and circulated over two days and shared widely on social media—are authors, poets, publishers, illustrators, literary editors, and scholars.

On Monday, a similar letter was signed by more than 6,000 academics and education officials, also calling for the return of the hostages—even if it requires an immediate end to the war.

Dozens of former Foreign Ministry employees, including former director-generals and ambassadors, also signed a letter of support. “The recent return to hostilities has not resulted in the release of a single hostage. We therefore demand immediate action to release the hostages, in one phase, even at the cost of ending the war,” they wrote.

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Amid rising anti-war protests, IDF to cut reserves, bolster combat zones with conscripts (Yaniv Kubovich and Bar Peleg, Haaretz)

Educators, reservists, ex-diplomats are latest to urge hostage deal, even by ending war (Times of Israel)

Dissent against war grows in Israel’s military as reservists from elite unit join protest movement (CNN)

Why Mossad and Shin Bet veterans are now calling to end the war in Gaza (Yossi Melman, Haaretz)

Hundreds of leading Israeli literary figures sign petition calling for end to Gaza war (Haaretz)