Former Israeli Minister of Justice Haim Ramon said that the war launched by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on the Gaza Strip “ended in a strategic defeat” for Israel.

In response to a question about whether the war was over, Ramon said: “Unfortunately, yes. Unfortunately, there is a tactical victory, but there is also a strategic defeat. We did not achieve any of the goals set by the government,” according to the Hebrew newspaper “Maariv.”

He added: “The ground maneuver (attack) started in the wrong way, and only moved heavily to the north of Gaza Strip.”

He continued: “We transferred a million and a half refugees to the south, and now we will not go to Rafah (south) because there are a million and a half. It is not an American problem, it is our problem in how we deal with them.”

He added: “Six months ago we went to this war and there was one thing, which was the collapse of Hamas militarily. They (the army) dealt it severe blows, but it is still standing on its feet.”

Ramon said: “The goal was to eliminate civilian Hamas, which controls humanitarian aid,” considering that “it is impossible for Hamas to collapse without temporary civilian rule.”

He added: “We were also unable to bring down civilian Hamas. We said that there would be military pressure, and the pressure would lead to the release of the hostages, and this did not happen either, and the goals of the war were not achieved after six months, and at this time, we are in great trouble.”

He pointed out that “we have not even begun to overthrow Hamas,” and said: “In my opinion, after six months and in light of everything that happened and certainly in light of the failure of October 7, this is the moment when the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces (Herzi Halevy) must bear responsibility, as he announced.” By himself".

He said: “If this happens, there will be a chain of reactions at the military level, but also at the political level.”

At the beginning of the war, Halevy announced that he bears responsibility for the security and military failure following the Hamas attack on Israeli towns and military bases around the Gaza Strip on October 7.

A number of Israeli military, security and political leaders also announced that they bear responsibility for the Hamas attack.

On October 7, Hamas and Palestinian factions in Gaza launched a military operation called “Al-Aqsa Flood,” in response to “the continuing attacks by Israeli forces and settlers against the Palestinian people, their property, and their sanctities, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.”

Israel says that Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis in the attack and wounded 5,431, and captured about 239, including high-ranking soldiers. It exchanged a number of them during a week-long truce that ended in early December 2023, for dozens of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, leaving tens of thousands of civilian victims, most of them children and women, and a famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly, which led to Israel being brought before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing “genocide.”