Benjamin Netanyahu denounces Israel military’s ‘tactical pause’ plan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced as “unacceptable” plans by his country’s military for a limited pause in operations near a crossing into Gaza that was intended to help aid distribution in the shattered enclave.

Netanyahu’s comments on Sunday came amid growing domestic criticism of his handling of the nine-month war against Hamas and a national mood soured by one of the deadliest days for the military of the conflict so far.

Eight Israeli combat engineering soldiers were killed on Saturday in the southern Gaza city of Rafah when their armoured personnel carrier was destroyed by what officials said was likely to have been a Hamas anti-tank missile.

Two more soldiers were killed in northern Gaza later on Saturday, while a third succumbed to wounds sustained in Rafah last week. One soldier was killed on Sunday in an explosion at the entrance to a Hamas tunnel in Rafah, the Israeli military said. 

Opposition politicians and protest groups have ratcheted up their attacks on Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, with tens of thousands taking to the streets in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening to demand a ceasefire-for-hostages deal with Hamas and snap elections.

Speaking at the rally, which local media and organisers said was the biggest against the government since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, Yair Lapid, leader of the parliamentary opposition, accused Netanyahu of playing for time.

“[He] wants to stall, put some more distance between him and October 7 so maybe someone will forget that he’s guilty and responsible for the worst day in the history of Israel,” Lapid told the crowd.

The Israel Defense Forces announced on Sunday an indefinite 11-hour-a-day “tactical pause” in operations in the area around the Kerem Shalom border crossing that connects Israel to Gaza.

Aid groups have consistently warned of the risks to humanitarian convoys and staff from ongoing military operations in that part of southern Gaza, which serves as the main commercial entry point for the entire territory.

But the move was immediately slammed by Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister and an ultranationalist who has demanded no aid enter Gaza at all.

Netanyahu’s office also issued a statement, saying the prime minister had no knowledge of the “tactical pause”, but had made clear to his military secretary that “this was unacceptable to him”.

“After an inquiry, the prime minister was informed that there was no change in [Israeli military] policy and that the fighting in Rafah continued as planned,” the statement added.

Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, who last week resigned in protest from the emergency wartime government they formed with Netanyahu last October, have stepped up attacks on the prime minister in television interviews in the past few days.

Gantz, a centrist politician who leads Netanyahu in opinion polls, accused him of inserting “political considerations” into Gaza war strategy, in particular delaying a possible deal with Hamas earlier this year for the return of more than 100 Israeli hostages.

Gantz hinted that Israel should consider halting the war for a “year or two” to secure such a deal, and that the overall campaign to dismantle Hamas would “last years”.

Eisenkot, Gantz’s political partner and a fellow former military chief, said Netanyahu’s decision making was influenced by far-right allies including Ben-Gvir, who he called “the alternate prime minister”.

Eisenkot said he and Gantz left the government after the war cabinet was “infiltrated” by “ulterior motives and political considerations”.

Netanyahu’s office on Saturday accused the pair of lying, insisting the prime minister made decisions based only on Israel’s national security needs.

Saturday’s death toll darkened Israel’s national mood, which had been ebullient a week earlier after the rescue inside Gaza of four hostages seized by Hamas during its October 7 attack on Israel.

While Israeli troops are active in Rafah and parts of central Gaza, the overall public impression is of a stalling offensive of inconclusive purpose and length.

Adding to the sense of strategic drift are near-daily exchanges of cross-border fire with Iran-backed Hizbollah in Lebanon, which spiked last week amid Israel’s threats to escalate its response, even at the risk of all-out war.