IDF chief wrote PM, Katz before Gaza City op, reportedly warned of ‘no political endgame’

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir hand-delivered a secret memo to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz weeks ahead of the military offensive in Gaza City, warning that the operation lacked a “political endgame” and risked the lives of both hostages and soldiers, Channel 13 reports.

“IDF fighters are returning to the same places without a political purpose,” the letter read, according to the report, which comes a day before Netanyahu is set to discuss a US proposal for ending the Gaza war with US President Donald Trump in Washington.

“The operational actions endanger the hostages — whose condition is deteriorating,” Zamir reportedly wrote, stressing that “every operation needs a political endgame. There is no political endgame,” and writing that Israel “refuses to find an alternative to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”

An IDF spokesperson confirms the document’s existence to Channel 13, calling it “an extremely sensitive and secret” memo that was delivered directly to the prime minister and the defense minister.

The spokesperson warns that “leaking its contents to unauthorized parties constitutes a breach of state security.”

Parents of soldiers serving in Gaza react angrily to the Channel 13 report, telling the network: “We are appalled… According to the Chief of Staff himself — he is sending our children to die and be wounded without purpose. Our children’s lives are not expendable… This is the time for the parents of the fighters to stand up and stop this pointless war.”