JERUSALEM 

Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologize for recent comments he made in which he criticized the military for not putting enough pressure on Hamas to achieve progress in hostage talks, local reports said Tuesday.

Israel’s Channel 12 said that during a press conference Saturday, Netanyahu said that “for months, there was no progress because the military pressure was not strong enough, and I thought that both for the sake of the hostage deal and for the sake of the victory over Hamas, we must enter Rafah.”

Israel launched a ground offensive on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 6, seizing control of the Philadelphi Corridor, including the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

The report also noted that military officials interpreted Netanyahu's comments as implying he wanted action in Rafah, but senior army officers did not follow through, forcing him to pressure them.

During a meeting Sunday that was also attended by the heads of Israel’s two main security agencies, the Shin Bet and Mossad, Halevi asked Netanyahu to apologize, Channel 12 reported.

In the meeting, Halevi told Netanyahu: “These comments are serious. I demand the prime minister issue an apology.”

However, according to the channel, Netanyahu has not apologized.

A military spokesperson who responded to a request for comment from the channel, said: “We do not address what is said in closed discussions.”

Officials in Netanyahu's office said they were “unaware of such a statement in this security meeting.”

Since the start of the war on Gaza, disagreements between Netanyahu and military leaders have surfaced multiple times, especially regarding the responsibility for the attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 38,700 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 89,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio