Over 10,000 military personnel, academics sign petitions calling for return of hostages, end to Gaza war
Pressure is mounting on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end his brutal war on the Gaza Strip as thousands of military personnel and civilians, including doctors, academics, and intelligence veterans, have signed urgent petitions demanding the government prioritize the release of Israelis held in the Palestinian enclave.
According to an Anadolu count, nearly 3,500 army veterans and active-duty soldiers have signed petitions for a ceasefire in Gaza since April 10, representing different units, brigades, elite forces, intelligence units, and intelligence graduates.
Several former top army commanders have joined the petitions, including former army chiefs Dan Halutz and Ehud Barak, who was also a prime minister.
More petitions and letters demanding an end to the war are also expected to be released, alongside mass protests taking place across the country, as Netanyahu continues to face growing demands from within Israeli society to reach a prisoner swap deal with Palestinians.
The latest petition was signed on Tuesday by some 350 Israeli authors, poets, and literary professionals, accusing Netanyahu of sabotaging an agreed ceasefire "fearing the war's end would mean the end of his rule and his freedom as a criminal defendant," according to the Times of Israel news portal.
Around 3,500 academics also signed a petition supporting a previous letter from Israeli Air Force reservists demanding the return of the hostages and an end to the war, according to Haaretz daily.
“We, members of the academic staff in higher education institutions, join the call of the Air Force soldiers and demand the immediate return of the hostages, even if it requires halting the war at once,” the petition reads.
In another petition, over 3,000 teachers emphasized that “this is not a call to refuse military service, but a plea to save lives.”
Nearly 3,000 Israeli medical professionals, alongside three Nobel laureates, also signed a petition calling on the government to free hostages held in Gaza by halting the ongoing war, according to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
“For the sake of our children's future, we refuse to raise them in an endless war, and we will not turn a blind eye to the killing of children,” reads another letter signed by some 1,000 parents.
The Israeli army renewed a deadly assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.
At least 51,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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