No way for Israel to rescue hostages without ending Gaza war — Aviv Kochavi

Aviv Kochavi, former Israeli military head and one of the officials being blamed in Israel for failure to thwart Hamas' October 7 blitz on Israeli military and settlements, has said the only way to secure the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza is by halting the war in the enclave.

"I don't think there's a way to bring back the hostages without stopping the war, for now," Kochavi told a Jewish gathering in the US on Wednesday which was broadcast by Israel's Channel 12.

"Iran was the top priority. We were preparing the military vis-à-vis Iran. We did not perceive the Gaza Strip and Hamas as an existential threat. The grand strategy was to focus on Iran and the northern arena, to prepare the military and to do whatever we can to pacify the other arenas" he said.

Many Israelis view Kochavi as one of the officials responsible for the security failure leading to October 7 events that surprised Tel Aviv and which Hamas says was orchestrated in response to daily Israeli attacks on Al Aqsa Mosque, illegal settler violence in occupied West Bank and to put Palestine question "back on the table."

The hours-long Hamas raid and Israeli military's haphazard reaction resulted in the killings of more than 1,130 people, Israeli officials and local media say.

Palestinian fighters also took more than 250 hostages and presently 130 remain in Gaza, including 34 who the Israeli army says are dead, some of them killed in indiscriminate Israeli strikes.

Israel has since then killed at least 34,844 Palestinians — 70% of them babies, children and women — and wounded over 78,404, Palestinian officials say, with another 10,000+ feared buried under the ruins of bombed homes.

The Israeli war, that has assumed genocidal proportions, according to many countries and genocide experts, has caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities in the tiny enclave. It has also imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza, leaving its 2.4. million population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, starving.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Fighting with Hezbollah

Kochavi also revealed Israel tried but failed to kill senior Hamas figures in besieged Gaza.

"There was an attempt to eliminate Hamas chiefs Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, but it’s hard. In very densely populated, heavily built-up areas — it’s very hard, so we had been working for months in order to procure the operation, but we couldn't," he said.

Regarding the situation on the northern front, Kochavi said "the only way to end the battle with [the Lebanese group] Hezbollah is to halt the war in Gaza."

"It's hard to believe that we will achieve the desired situation in the north through diplomatic channels, and the other option is a military operation."