Hundreds of IDF reservists say they won’t report for duty if called up for Gaza City takeover op

A group of hundreds of reservists opposed to the IDF’s plans to take over Gaza City have announced they will no longer report for duty if called up to fight in the ongoing war against Hamas.

“We are over 365, and counting, soldiers who served during the war and have declared that we will not report for duty when called again,” says Sgt. First Class (res.) Max Kresch at a Tel Aviv press conference. “We refuse to take part in Netanyahu’s illegal war, and we see it as a patriotic duty to refuse and demand accountability from our leaders.”

Kresch, a combat medic, says that the group of reservists and soldiers are the same people who rushed to the frontline on October 7 to protect Israel.

“It is precisely from that same sense of duty that we are driven to refuse,” he declares.

Sgt. First Class Dor Menachem says the order to occupy Gaza City “endangers the hostages and soldiers themselves,” claiming the entire military establishment expressed a “determined stance against” such a move. “There is no logic to this step,” he adds.

Cpt. (res.) Ron Feiner, who served 270 days in reserve duty over the war, calls the decision made earlier this month to take over Gaza City — which many view as the first step to occupying the entire Strip — a “patently illegal order.”

“The decision to occupy Gaza will always be at the risk of the hostages, soldiers and citizens. It was given by a messianic government with no public legitimacy, that is only interested in its own political survival,” he says.

He notes the many hostage families who have spoken against expanding the war, out of worry that military pressure puts their loved ones at heightened risk.

“For messianic ideas such as this, we will not report for duty. Here and now we are saying ‘enough,'” he continues.