Israel's former PM Ehud Barak: 'Netanyahu doesn't have the trust of the people'

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Israel's former prime minister Ehud Barak said that Israel had no choice but to launch a ground offensive in Gaza if it wants to defeat Hamas definitively. Barak also claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had neither the trust of the Israeli people nor that of the army.

Barak said that a ground invasion of Gaza would take weeks, perhaps even several months, after which he suggested control of Gaza should be gradually handed to the Palestinian Authority.

When asked about Sunday's comments by US President Joe Biden that it would be a "big mistake" for Israel to occupy Gaza, he said that the staunch support of the US was highly appreciated in Israel, but that no "recommendations" should be given by the US when it comes to strategy.

He admitted that the war would inevitably cause "collateral damage" in Gaza, but said Israel was careful to warn inhabitants to move out of the area targeted, brushing aside criticism from the UN that Gaza was under complete siege.

The former Israeli premier described the Hamas attack on October 7 as the "greatest failure in the history of the State of Israel", both because Israel failed to prevent the attack and also because of the delay in sending troops southward to protect Israeli citizens.

More than 1,400 Israelis were killed, the majority of them civilians, in Hamas's surprise attack on Israel. At least 2,670 Palestinians have since been killed, most of them also civilians, in retaliatory Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Barak said he took comfort in the appointment of two former senior military officers in Israel's war cabinet – Benny Gantz and Gadi Eizenkot – in the belief that they would bring experience and coherence to the decision-making process.

He said that this was especially important because in his eyes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "doesn't have the trust of the people, of the families of those who were slaughtered, or of the commanders and the soldiers in the field".