TEL AVIV: Hundreds of retired Israeli security officials, including former intelligence chiefs, have called on US President Donald Trump to put pressure on the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza.
“It is our professional judgment that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel,” the former officials wrote in an open letter shared with the media on Monday.
“At first this war was a just war, a defensive war, but when we achieved all military objectives, this war ceased to be a just war,” said Ami Ayalon, former director of the Shin Bet security service.
The war, nearing its 23rd month, “is leading the State of Israel to lose its security and identity,” Ayalon warned in a video released to accompany the letter.
A letter signed by 550 retired Israeli security officials, including former chiefs of the Shin Bet and Mossad intelligence agencies, has urged US President Donald Trump to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire in Gaza.
While international calls for a ceasefire have grown louder in recent weeks, with hopes of securing the release of Israeli hostages and enabling UN agencies to deliver humanitarian aid, divisions remain within Israel’s leadership.
Some members of Netanyahu’s coalition are advocating for the continuation of military operations and even partial or full occupation of Gaza, despite rising global concern.
Among the letter’s signatories are three former Mossad directors: Tamir Pardo, Efraim Halevy, and Danny Yatom.
Other signatories include five former heads of Shin Bet – Ayalon as well as Nadav Argaman, Yoram Cohen, Yaakov Peri, and Carmi Gilon – and three former military chiefs of staff, including former prime minister Ehud Barak, former defence minister Moshe Yaalon, and Dan Halutz.
The letter argued that the Israeli military “has long accomplished the two objectives that could be achieved by force: dismantling Hamas’s military formations and governance.”
“The third, and most important, can only be achieved through a deal: bringing all the hostages home,” it added. “Chasing remaining senior Hamas operatives can be done later,” the letter said.
In the letter, the former officials tell President Trump that he holds significant credibility with most Israelis and is in a unique position to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu to end the war and secure the return of hostages.
They argue that following a ceasefire, Trump could help assemble a regional coalition to back a reformed Palestinian Authority in taking control of Gaza.
Gaza death toll rises to 60,933
At least 60,933 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry on Monday.
In the past 24 hours alone, 94 bodies were recovered and 439 people were injured, bringing the total number of wounded to 150,027 since the conflict began.
The ministry stated that many victims remain trapped under rubble or in areas unreachable by rescue teams due to ongoing hostilities.
The ministry also reported that 29 Palestinians were killed and 300 injured in the past day while attempting to access humanitarian aid.
Since May 27, a total of 1,516 people have been killed and over 10,067 injured while trying to obtain desperately needed assistance.
The Israeli military resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, following the collapse of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal that had been in place since January.
Since then, 9,440 Palestinians have been killed and 37,986 injured in renewed air and ground assaults.
