Knesset finance chair: We need leader like Trump Pushes to end Gaza conflict

Moshe Gafni, chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee and a prominent ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the Torah Judaism party, voiced strong opposition to the ongoing conflict in Gaza and urged for its conclusion during the opening of a recent committee meeting. 

“Today is a sad day, with seven soldiers killed. I still don’t understand what we are fighting for and to what end. What are we trying to achieve there if soldiers keep dying all the time?” Gafni said solemnly, Caliber.Az reports via Israeli media.

Expressing frustration with the current situation, Gafni added, “We needed someone like Trump who would say, ‘We’re bringing the hostages home and returning to normal life,’ but apparently, we haven’t been lucky yet.”

The seven soldiers mentioned were killed during combat operations against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, according to an official statement from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson’s unit. The fatalities occurred when an armoured personnel carrier exploded in the city of Khan Younis, located in southern Gaza. One additional soldier was seriously wounded in the same incident.

All casualties were members of the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion of the IDF’s Barak Brigade.

This latest loss brings the total number of Israeli military personnel killed since the outbreak of the current conflict in the Middle East to 878, as confirmed by the IDF.

The conflict erupted on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian militants launched a massive rocket attack on Israeli cities and crossed into Israel from the Gaza Strip. The initial assault resulted in approximately 1,200 Israeli deaths and the taking of around 250 hostages.

In response, the IDF launched Operation Iron Swords. On October 8, for the first time since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, the Israeli government officially declared the nation to be "in a state of war." Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that the objective of the military campaign was to destroy Hamas.

By Tamilla Hasanova