Dozens of officers and commanders who took part in the fighting within the Gaza Strip appealed in a letter to Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, demanding he not withdraw from the northern Strip or allow the movement of civilians into the Strip, at least until the release of all the hostages held by Hamas.
Ynet revealed that the letter was sent to the Chief of Staff by an organization calling itself the “Forum of Reservist Commanders and Soldiers,” and it is signed by over 130 commanders and officers who fought in the Strip for over a hundred days. The letter calls on the Chief of Staff to not, under any circumstances, allow the return of Gazans to the Northern Strip, so long as Israeli hostages are not freed.
The Forum called on the General Staff and the government to use the north as a bargaining chip to free the hostages, and they beseeched both to complete the evacuation of the north with all its residents and hermetically seal off the North from the South in a way that does not allow people to move to and from it above or below ground, and establish this is a fait accompli to free the hostages.
The Forum call for openly declaring that “the residents of the city of Gaza cannot return to their homes so long as the hostages do not return to theirs and added that any other conduct would harm the hostages. The soldiers added that “There is no reason that Ahmed can return to his home in Gaza before Ziv and Gali can return to their home in Kfar Aza.”