(Jerusalem) The chief of staff of the Israeli army resigned Tuesday acknowledging his responsibility in the “failure” to prevent the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, three days after the start of a fragile ceasefire. -fire in the Gaza Strip.
Posted at 6:18 a.m.
Updated at 10:21 a.m.
Didier LAURAS with Youssef HASSOUNA in Gaza, Louis BAUDOIN-LAARMAN in Ramallah and Adel ZAANOUN in Caire
Agence France-Presse
The leader of the opposition, Yaïr Lapid, called for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had promised after the attack to destroy the Palestinian Islamist movement.
The entry into force on Sunday of a six-week truce marked the start of a still uncertain process to end the war triggered by this unprecedented attack in Israel’s history.
But General Herzi Halevi admitted in his resignation letter that “the objectives of the war [n’avaient] not all have been reached.
“Recognizing my responsibility in the failure of the army on October 7” 2023, “I ask to end my functions,” he wrote.
PHOTO ISRAEL ARMED FORCES, ARCHIVES PROVIDED BY REUTERS
Israeli army chief of staff Herzi Halevi (right)
“The army will continue to fight to continue the dismantling of Hamas and its power capabilities” as well as “the return of the hostages,” he added.
“Now it is time for them to assume their responsibilities and resign – the prime minister and his entire catastrophic government,” said Yaïr Lapid on the social network X.
The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
The Israeli retaliatory offensive on the Gaza Strip has left at least 46,913 dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.
Risk of “collapse”
After months of fruitless negotiations, Qatar and the United States, two of the mediating countries, announced a ceasefire agreement on January 15, concluded a few days before Donald’s arrival at the White House. Trump.
Qatar said it was “confident” on Tuesday in the implementation of the agreement, after doubts about its solidity expressed by the American president.
“It’s not our war, it’s theirs. But I’m not confident,” Donald Trump said.
The spokesperson for Qatari diplomacy, however, stressed that “the slightest violation by one of the parties or a political decision […] could obviously lead to the “collapse” of the ceasefire.
After the release of three Israeli hostages and 90 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Hamas must release four Israeli women held in Gaza on Saturday, during the second exchange provided for by the truce agreement, a senior leader of the movement announced to AFP .
According to the Israeli army, “three or four kidnapped women” will be released each week.
Of 251 people kidnapped on October 7, 2023, 91 are still hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom are dead according to the Israeli army.
“Never again”
Congratulating Donald Trump on Monday, Benjamin Netanyahu said he wanted to ensure that the Gaza Strip “never poses a threat to Israel again”, after having previously said that he reserved the right to resume the war.
-Hamas affirmed that the truce depended on “respect for commitments” by Israel.
During the first phase of the truce, 33 Israeli hostages are to be released in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held by Israel, and the Israeli army is to withdraw from part of the territory.
This initial 42-day truce should allow the entry each day of 600 trucks of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory, besieged by Israel.
On Monday, 915 trucks entered Gaza, the UN announced.
PHOTO JEHAD ALSHRAFI, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Humanitarian aid trucks enter the Gaza Strip in Rafah, January 21, 2025.
A spokesperson for UN Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jens Laerke, said no looting or attacks on convoys had been reported since Sunday.
“Only ruins”
From the start of the truce, thousands of Palestinians, displaced like almost all of the territory’s 2.4 million inhabitants, took to the road in the middle of an apocalyptic landscape of dusty ruins and gutted buildings.
“We are finally home. There is no more house, only ruins. But it’s our home,” testified Rana Mohsen, a 43-year-old woman who returned to Jabalia, in the north of the territory.
The same scenes are repeated from north to south.
PHOTO MAHMOUD ISSA, REUTERS
A Palestinian makes a fire near destroyed houses in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, January 20, 2025.
“The destruction targeted educational and health establishments, civilian installations, municipal installations, water reservoirs, water and sewer networks,” Ahmed Al-Soufi told AFP, the mayor of Rafah, in southern Gaza.
“But we will rebuild Rafah once again,” he assured.
According to the UN, rebuilding the territory, where nearly 70% of buildings have been damaged or destroyed, will take up to 15 years and cost more than 50 billion euros (74 billion Canadian dollars).
The truce agreement fuels hope for lasting peace in the territory, but the rest of the timetable remains uncertain.
The terms of the second phase, which should see a definitive end to the war and the release of all hostages, must be negotiated over the next six weeks.
If the first two stages go as planned, the third and final will focus on the reconstruction of Gaza and the return of the bodies of dead hostages.
New violence broke out in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli army announced on Tuesday that it had launched a military operation in the autonomous zone of Jenin, aiming to “eradicate terrorism,” according to Benjamin Netanyahu. The operation left six people dead, according to the Palestinian Authority.
