Bereaved Families Criticize Cabinet Decision to Allow International Force in Gaza
Bereaved families from the "Gvura Forum" are attacking the cabinet's decision to allow an international force into the Gaza Strip. They warn that transferring security responsibility to a foreign entity endangers the country and risks a return to the reality of October 7.
A heavy blow to the efforts to achieve a decisive victory: bereaved families from the "Gvura Forum" (Heroism Forum) are launching a sharp attack against the cabinet's decision from Sunday to allow the entry of an international force into the Gaza Strip. The families warn that transferring security responsibility to a foreign entity endangers the country's security and may return the reality that existed before October 7. According to them, the responsibility for security in the Strip must remain solely in the hands of the State of Israel and the IDF, to ensure that terror does not raise its head again.
In the Gvura Forum, which brings together bereaved families from the "Iron Swords" war, they emphasize that any compromise on the issue of control over the territory will harm the achievements of the fighters on the ground. The bereaved parents and sisters demand that the Prime Minister and cabinet members stop the move and stand by the commitments made to them throughout the way.
"The possibility that we will experience another October 7 is closer than ever"
Zurit Fenigstein, mother of Maoz and a board member of the Gvura Forum, says: "A fully right-wing government is now promoting the entry of an international force into Gaza. About two years ago, I lost my son, my firstborn, my beloved. Since then, in these two years, I have met very many other parents who, over the years, lost their children in roughly the same area. It is very painful. Every few years, terror raises its head, and if we do not hold the territory, if it is not under Israeli control, the possibility that we will experience the next October 7 is closer than ever. We must not leave Gaza. We cannot afford it."
Reut Hirshfeld, sister of Staff Sergeant Mati Perl (may God avenge his blood), also addressed the decision and said that the State of Israel cannot entrust its security to a foreign entity. According to her: "Following the cabinet's decision on the entry of an international force into Gaza, it is important to remember that we must not entrust our security to any foreign international force. The State of Israel must defend itself by its own forces. A person guarding his home and his country is not like a foreigner guarding someone else's country. Besides, we see around the world what the power of the UN is worth. Government of Israel, you committed that the security of Israel's citizens, from the Negev to the sea, would be only in the hands of the IDF. Stand by the commitment for the sake of the fallen, and no less so for the sake of the living."
"Did my brother die for this? This is a 'conceptzia' in full"
Anna Slutskin, sister of Israel Sokol (may God avenge his blood), also attacked the move and expressed shock at the possibility that a foreign aid force would enter the Strip for its rehabilitation while Hamas still remains there. According to her, the entry of a foreign force and the rehabilitation of the Strip in the current situation are inconsistent with the heavy price paid by the soldiers who fell in the war.
"We heard with shock and amazement the news that the Israeli government is going to bring a foreign aid force into the Gaza Strip to rehabilitate it. Have we lost our minds? Do we want to return to October 6? Is this what our soldiers died for? Did my brother die for this? So that the Israeli government starts rehabilitating the Strip when Hamas is still there? Is this what we are transferring trucks to them for? This is a 'conceptzia' in full," says Slutskin.
Slutskin added a direct appeal to the political echelon: "Prime Minister, we demand on our behalf and on behalf of those who left home on Simchat Torah and did not return, we demand now to stop all of this. The Gaza Strip and all other territories that were conquered must belong to the State of Israel only. The security responsibility for it can be only that of the IDF and the State of Israel. This is what our heroes fought and are fighting for. And my brother, Israel Sokol (may God avenge his blood), is turning in his grave at this news."
