Opposition MKs say Gaza terror groups have 30,000 gunmen, war failing to achieve goals
Eisenkot and others on Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee demand meeting with Netanyahu, say they’ve been told ‘the military power of Hamas and Islamic Jihad has been restored’
Stav Levaton is a military reporter for The Times of Israel
Former war cabinet observer Gadi Eisenkot led opposition members of the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Sunday in calling for an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, citing a failure to achieve the ongoing Gaza war’s objectives.
Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff and current MK with the opposition National Unity party, was joined by the committee’s other opposition lawmakers — Ram Ben Barak, Meir Cohen, Elazar Stern, Moshe Tur-Paz, Sharon Nir and Merav Michaeli — in sending a letter to the committee’s chairman, Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, about terror groups’ alarming resurgence in Gaza.
“In recent days, we have been informed that the military power of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has been restored, to the point where Hamas has over 25,000 and PIJ has over 5,000 armed terrorists,” they wrote.
As of February, the IDF said it has killed around 20,000 terrorists in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack. However, Hamas reportedly recruited between 10,000 and 15,000 new members, according to US intelligence.
“In the past month, the Israeli government has not fulfilled its responsibility as the supreme command of the IDF and is not advancing the goals of the war to bring back the hostages and destroy Hamas’s military and governmental power,” the letter continued.
According to the letter, Netanyahu and his cabinet have disregarded a May 2024 war cabinet decision and a January 2025 government resolution — both of which outlined efforts to secure the return of the hostages, which include the second and third phases of the ongoing ceasefire with Hamas.
Gaza ceasefire talks have been held in Doha in recent weeks, with US special envoy Steve Witkoff presenting a new outline to extend the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip by several weeks in exchange for Hamas releasing five living and 10 dead hostages.
Israeli negotiators returned from Cairo last night, and Israeli officials have said they are ready to continue talks based on the Witkoff outline.
Currently, there are still 59 hostages held in Gaza, up to 24 of whom Israel believes are still alive.
The reports on the proposal drew concern from the families of the hostages, who said the deal, if agreed upon, would leave many of their loved ones in captivity for a “long and undetermined length of time.”
The letter from the opposition lawmakers also accused Netanyahu of violating the High Court of Justice’s June 2024 ruling regarding the conscription of yeshiva students.
Last year, the court ruled that a government decision from June 2023 instructing the army not to begin drafting eligible Haredi men — issued after the law allowing for blanket military service exemptions expired — was illegal and that the government must therefore actively work to conscript ultra-Orthodox recruits to the IDF.
The government has said it is working on legislation on the issue, but it has largely stalled amid sharp political divisions, and the IDF has not called up Haredi men in large numbers.
“All of this harms the security and national interests of the State of Israel. Therefore, we ask you to urgently summon the prime minister and the defense minister for a discussion in the committee,” the letter concluded.
The Times of Israel Community.