‘Take the deal!’ IDF chief said to yell at ministers, urges Mossad head to go seal it

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen Eyal Zamir reportedly yelled at cabinet ministers on Sunday that they should finalize and accept a hostage-ceasefire deal currently on the table rather than push ahead with an expanded military operation in the Gaza Strip.

Ministers, in response, berated Zamir that his past advice had been shown to be misguided, according to a Channel 13 report on the allegedly heated exchange.

It was the latest in a series of reported clashes between the army chief and ministers over how the Gaza war is being managed.

Zamir met with a narrow forum of ministers, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday evening to discuss the Gaza war plans, which include an intensifying operation to conquer Gaza City. Hebrew media reports did not give a full roster of who was at the meeting.

“I am preparing the army for ground maneuvers and am calling up reservists to defeat Hamas as per your instructions,” Zamir told ministers, according to the unsourced Channel 13 report.

“Why isn’t the negotiating team traveling around the world now, in order to bring about a deal by force?” he questioned. “Why do we always have to depend on [the US]?”

“Why are you sitting here?” Zamir asked, turning to Mossad chief David Barnea’s nickname. “Why are you in Israel? Go bring us a deal!”

Barnea is leading Israel’s negotiating team amid international mediation efforts to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas that would return the hostages taken by the terror group during its October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre in southern Israel. Of the 251 hostages that terrorists abducted during the assault, 47 remain in captivity.

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer responded by reminding Zamir that, before Israel launched attacks on Iran in June to destroy its nuclear facilities, which were seen as an existential threat to the Jewish state, the army chief had apparently predicted that the US would not join Israel’s bombing campaign. US participation was seen as vital in taking out certain key sites. The US did, in fact, eventually carry out a single round of strikes on those nuclear sites, and then immediately brokered a ceasefire to end the fighting.

“You stood here and said that the US won’t be with us in Iran, that they won’t fight alongside us,” Dermer reportedly told Zamir. “In the end, everything that happened contradicted what you said and your assessments.”

“There is a deal on the table now, and it is there only because we didn’t listen to you and we didn’t adopt your position,” Dermer reportedly added, referring to a current US-proposed ceasefire and hostage release framework.

“So take the deal!” Zamir yelled back, the outlet said.

Earlier in the meeting, Netanyahu confronted military chiefs over leaks to the media that have dwelt on differences of opinion between the army chief and the government about the Gaza City operation, Channel 12 reported.

“What is this?” Netanyahu said as he waved around articles on Zamir’s opposition to the operation, according to the report. “Stop giving briefings against the operation. This cannot continue. We made the decision, and you need to carry it out. This isn’t an army that has a country; it’s a country that has an army.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir then challenged Zamir: “What is your reaction to these accusations?”

Zamir responded that he was unaware of any briefings given to journalists.

During the meeting, he also reportedly raised his concern about the heavy price the operation would exact in soldiers’ lives and Israel’s international relations. Zamir has previously warned ministers that the operation could cost the lives of dozens of soldiers, Channel 12 reported.

Most Israelis, according to surveys, favor a deal to release the hostages held by Hamas and end the war. Particularly strong opposition to the Gaza City plan has come from families of hostages, only some 20 of whom are thought to still be alive.