Former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar party, declared Thursday at the Black Arrow Memorial near the Gaza border that Hamas would no longer govern the Gaza Strip within 18 months of his becoming prime minister. He pledged to destroy the terrorist organization's military wing, either through US President Donald Trump's plan, which was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, or through the use of Israel's military and operational capabilities.
"As long as Benjamin Netanyahu remains in power, Hamas will remain in power," Eisenkot said. "The man who puts up signs saying 'We will not surrender' is the first to surrender: to draft dodgers, to his coalition partners and to Hamas."
Eisenkot sharply criticized the government's handling of the war, saying, "Never before has an Israeli government been given so much room to maneuver and so much legitimacy, both from the Israeli public and the international community, only to suffer such a resounding strategic failure. Three years after the October 7 massacre, Hamas remains the governing authority in the Gaza Strip, armed, rearming and rebuilding its military capabilities."
"In Iran, Lebanon and Gaza, there is a vast gulf between the achievements of our troops on the ground and Netanyahu's failure to meet the objectives he himself set," Eisenkot said.
Eisenkot also pledged that a state commission of inquiry into the events of October 7 would be established within two weeks of his taking office as prime minister.
"We must not adopt an attitude that treats failures as inevitable," he said. "There is a way to prevent the next disaster. We will make courageous decisions, formulate a national strategy, investigate October 7 through a state commission of inquiry and implement the lessons learned. This is not a luxury. It is an urgent security necessity."
Asked about an international force seeking to advance construction of the first facility in the Gaza Strip, Eisenkot argued that Israel was being drawn into a situation in which Qatar and Turkey were involved in promoting a multinational initiative under US auspices.
He said the Israel Defense Forces controlled large parts of the Gaza Strip, yet Netanyahu was simultaneously committing to the Americans to establish a base and arm thousands of Gaza residents. Netanyahu then circulated messages suggesting that Eisenkot himself had made the same commitment, he claimed.
Eisenkot said the next government would pursue a clear policy that included implementing Trump's plan while maintaining the involvement of Israeli security forces and ensuring that the Gaza Strip was demilitarized.
Eisenkot then addressed the military plans developed before October 7. He said that upon taking office as IDF chief of staff, he had warned of Hamas' intentions to launch a cross-border assault on Israel and had presented plans to destroy eight of the organization's battalions. He claimed that a plan to destroy Hamas' tunnels, on which many soldiers had worked, was never fully implemented and that the effort invested in it had gone to waste during Operation Guardian of the Walls, Israel's May 2021 military operation against Hamas in Gaza. Eisenkot also described Netanyahu's claim that he had been unaware of the possibility of a Hamas invasion as "a pathetic statement."
Addressing the lawsuit involving the head of the Shin Bet security agency, Eisenkot said he was familiar with the personnel involved and had served on a classified Knesset committee where the agency chief's internal investigation had been presented. He said that, for this reason, he had not made use of the information disclosed to the committee.
Eisenkot added that he had personally sent Netanyahu a letter in August and that then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar had sent another letter in September. According to Eisenkot, Netanyahu disregarded the warnings and conducted himself with arrogance and complacency.
He criticized the prime minister for refusing to accept responsibility, arguing that even more serious was the attempt to spread a conspiracy theory alleging betrayal, including, he said, through members of Netanyahu's family.
