Knesset to discuss report on Israeli failures in Gaza war

The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, is going to review the findings of a draft version of a report on the failures of the Israeli army during the 50-day Israeli war on the besieged Gaza Strip back in 2014.

The draft reportedly contains an assertion, among other statements, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Military Affairs Moshe Ya’alon did not inform the cabinet about prior warnings.

The warnings were reportedly given by Israel’s internal security service against potential military confrontations with Palestinian resistance movement Hamas in July 2014.

Netayahu also reportedly never raised the issue about border tunnels that are being used by the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip to bring in supplies to the blockaded coastal sliver.

The draft report, written by Israel’s Comptroller Yosef Shapira, would also put the former chief of the general staff of the Israeli army in hot water over military surveys he submitted to the cabinet.

Fifty-three legislators from various opposition parties, including left-wing Meretz, center-left political alliance Zionist Union Camp and Yesh Atid, have already signed an initiative to hold a special session on the matter. The date of the discussion is yet to be determined.

Call for grilling Netanyahu

Meretz Chairman Ilan Gilon said, “Serious failures of the previous Netanyahu administration, which are coming to light in the leaked draft report, prove that the security of Israel is in the hands of people who can’t be trusted.”

“We demand even more so that, given the latest incidents in the south, the prime minister appears to the Knesset to be held accountable and provide clear answers,” he added.

Reserve General Yom-Tov Samia, who served as Deputy Commander of Israel’s Southern Command during the Gaza war, also criticized the regime for the management of the 50-day offensive.

“I have not read the draft report but however drastic it may be — I am not sure that it will be drastic enough,” he said.

Israel launched its latest war on the Gaza Strip in early July 2014.

The 50-day military aggression, which ended on August 26, 2014, killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children. Over 11,100 others — including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people — were also wounded in the war.

Israel continues to carry out attacks on the Palestinian enclave from time to time.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

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