Avi Dichter, who is on security cabinet, says IDF should have occupied Gaza City early in war

Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter, a member of the government’s security cabinet, says the IDF should have occupied Gaza City earlier during its war with Hamas, insisting such a move would have pressured the terror group into agreeing to a hostage deal sooner.

“In combat, there is an iron rule that says: ‘The main effort must be done in the beginning.’ We should have occupied Gaza City from the beginning,” the Likud minister says in an interview with Channel 12 News.

“We didn’t occupy Gaza, we didn’t occupy a great many neighborhoods [in the Strip],” he goes on to say. “When it became clear that Hamas was misleading us in the partial deal, we should have opted for another move, and it was clear that Gaza City was a game-changer.”

Speaking of the current deal, now facing hurdles due to the slow pace at which Hamas is returning deceased hostages, Dichter accuses the terror group of purposefully delaying handovers.

“They understand that the more they can slow down the pace of the deceased hostages’ return, the longer they delay the execution of the second phase: laying down arms,” says the former Shin Bet chief. “For them, this is not a red line, it is a red corridor.”