Ex-generals Eisenkot, Winter accuse each other of taking the wrong approach to Gaza before, after Oct. 7

Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot pushes back against right-wing People of Israel party leader Ofer Winter’s efforts to portray himself as the more hawkish former general, claiming that Winter warned political and military leaders of potentially massive Israeli casualties from a ground offensive in Gaza while Eisenkot was pushing for the IDF to go in.

Speaking to Kan Radio this morning, Eisenkot says that after joining the wartime cabinet in October 2023, he was told that Winter and retired general Yitzhak Brik were warning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that a Gaza ground operation could result in thousands of Israeli deaths. He tells Ynet that a senior commander also informed him that Winter was going to IDF brigade commanders and “frightening them” with predictions of hundreds or thousands of casualties.

Eisenkot says that he, by contrast, told Netanyahu at the time: “I trust the IDF’s soldiers. Nothing can stand against an IDF brigade combat team. If we don’t maneuver and conquer it, we have no future in this region.”

He also rejects claims that he blocked Winter’s military advancement, noting that he promoted him to brigadier general. Eisenkot says that after Winter became then-defense minister Avigdor Liberman’s military secretary, and Liberman resigned, he proposed Winter as one of the candidates to serve as the premier’s military secretary, but Netanyahu declined, telling him to “keep Winter in Tel Aviv.”

Eisenkot says he sees “a great many contradictions” in Winter’s positions.

“Which bloc does he belong to? The draft-dodging bloc? He is going with those who are running away from responsibility and don’t want a commission of inquiry, while he is in close contact with Liberman,” Eisenkot says, adding that he finds it “difficult to understand the path [Winter] has chosen.”

Winter has said he would join a government led by Netanyahu, despite also campaigning on the need for a new government and opposing exemptions from military service for Haredim — whose parties Netanyahu needs in order to form a coalition.

People of Israel hits back in a statement, saying “the General Staff that Gadi Eisenkot built as IDF chief of staff is the one that led the IDF on October 7 [2023], with a disastrous misconception of the enemy and a fundamentally mistaken approach to protecting IDF soldiers.”

The statement adds that Winter “pushed with all his might not to carry out raid after raid, but rather to push the Gazan population southward and impose a smart siege, so that the IDF could bring its full force to bear, protect our soldiers and achieve a complete victory.”

“After more than 1,000 days of war, it is absolutely clear that Winter was right and Gadi was wrong,” it continues.