At his inauguration on Wednesday, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, the new chief of the armed forces, declared that Israel’s goal of defeating the Palestinian militant group Hamas was “not accomplished.”
“I humbly and modestly accept command of the Israeli military. Although Hamas has been dealt a serious blow, it has not yet been defeated,” he said.
Amid a stalemate in talks on the next steps of a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza, Zamir declared, “The mission is not yet accomplished.”
Israel is “determined” to win the multi-front battle that started with Hamas’s October 2023 attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Zamir before the ceremony at military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
“A very heavy responsibility rests on your shoulders, the results of the war will have significance for generations, we are determined to achieve… victory” , Netanyahu stated.
The prime minister and the new military chief are well acquainted, as Zamir served under him as military adviser a decade ago.
“I recommended you twice (in the past)… and now a third time. Zamir’s time has come”, Netanyahu said.
Zamir, a former tank commander, took over as Israeli military commander at a crucial point in Israel’s conflict with Hamas, when the truce that went into effect on January 19 was hanging in the balance.
Zamir, 59, will also assume command of operations in the occupied West Bank, where tanks have been sent in by the military for the first time in 20 years in recent weeks.
Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi resigned after acknowledging he had not fulfilled his obligation as head of the armed forces, and Zamir takes his position.
Following the revelation of the results of an internal investigation, the military admitted to its “complete failure” to prevent the October 2023 attack.
