Hundreds of retired air force officers protest Israel’s war in Gaza

TEL AVIV — Thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets every week to protest the ongoing war in Gaza and the government’s failure to bring home Israeli hostages.

But on Tuesday, a different kind of demonstration took place: hundreds of retired Israeli Air Force pilots rallied against the waroutside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.

It was the first time the group, which calls itself “555,” had gathered in person to oppose the Israeli cabinet’s latest decision — to launch an operation to capture Gaza City and expand the nearly two-year war. The crowd, most over 60 years of age, stood under a banner reading “Don’t kill hostages and soldiers” — a message that echoed throughout the speeches.

Many also stressed that their call to end the war wasn’t only about Israeli lives, but about the deaths of Palestinian civilians as well.

Among them was Dan Halutz, a former chief of staff of the Israeli military and ex-Air Force commander. Challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Hamas still poses a significant threat, Halutz told the crowd, “Who among the senior commanders in the IDF believes Hamas is a strategic threat we can’t defend against? I don’t believe there’s such a person.”

Turning to Israel’s current chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, Halutz added that “the war has run its course. Gaza is destroyed — structurally and humanly. There’s no army there. The last Hamas operatives are hiding.”

Halutz also addressed Netanyahu directly, saying that if the prime minister had listened to President Joe Biden and ended the war a year and a half ago, “things would look different today.” The former commander accused the government of lacking the legitimacy to wage a war that “most of the public opposes.” He added that “the war in Gaza is eroding our morals, our values as human beings and as Jews. We will lose the right to send soldiers into battle if we don’t bring home those we already sent.”

Hagai Katz, one of Israel’s most decorated fighter pilots and part of the 1981 air strike on Iraq’s nuclear reactor, was also there to oppose the campaign to capture Gaza City. He told NPR that he rejected Netanyahu’s promise that the move would eliminate Hamas once and for all.

“We got promises from Netanyahu almost two years ago that only military pressure will eventually be effective. We heard it again and again,” said Katz. “That’s what we heard when he went into Rafah. That’s what he said when we moved to Khan Yunis. And now again, the same story about Gaza — but we believe we’ll get to the same outcome now, with more dead hostages and probably soldiers and Palestinians.”

When asked what he would say to Israeli pilots now striking Gaza from the air, Katz acknowledged the moral dilemma they face.

“That’s a very tough question because in today’s war, unlike 50 years ago, you don’t see the target. You get an accurate position or a picture, and you trust the system to check that there are not too many innocent bystanders around. On the other hand, realistically, we know that a lot of uninvolved people are getting killed. So they have a real dilemma: stop attacking or quit reserves — and in that, in some cases, quit protecting Israel — or keep going and kill innocent bystanders. It’s a major issue on the table.”

Would he fight in Gaza if he were still serving?

“Probably I wouldn’t,” he answered. “And if that means I would have to leave the service, I would’ve done that.”

The pilots’ protest adds to a recent petition by former heads of Israel’s security services calling for the war to end. Polls show a large majority of Israelis support ending the Gaza war in exchange for the hostages’ release. Yet the cabinet’s approval to launch a campaign to take control of Gaza City has drawn warnings from the current military chief, Israel media reported, who says such an operation could endanger the lives of the estimated 20 surviving hostages in Gaza.

So far, the army has not issued call-up orders for reserve soldiers to bolster mission. But the public debate — both in Israel and abroad — over whether the operation is legitimate is only expected to intensify as universities said they were planning to go on strike this coming Sunday.

Emily Feng contributed from Tel Aviv.