Lapid's remarks came after a 40-minute security meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, attended by the prime minister's military secretary, Roman Gofman.
At the end of the meeting, Lapid said, "I told Netanyahu that occupying the Gaza Strip is a bad idea and cannot be carried out without broad popular support. The people of Israel are not interested in this war." He warned that any move toward occupying the Gaza Strip would result in "a heavy price in lives and money for citizens," according to what was reported by Israel's Channel 13.
This comes amid escalating disagreements within Israel over the plan Netanyahu is pushing for, particularly in areas where Israeli prisoners are believed to be held. Meanwhile, Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir is proposing an alternative plan that includes "encircling" specific areas in Gaza to pressure Hamas without being drawn into "strategic traps," as he put it.
In the same vein, the "Commanders for Israel's Security" movement, which includes more than 550 former security and diplomatic officials, issued a statement Wednesday evening calling on the government not to make a hasty decision to occupy Gaza.
The movement warned that "a full occupation, even if possible, could be a death sentence for the abductees, endanger soldiers, and could drag Israel into a political, social, and economic catastrophe."
The statement emphasized that the majority of Israeli citizens oppose the occupation plan, and that the government refuses to discuss available "regional and international alternatives."
recommended
The occupation releases the body of Palestinian Awda al-Hathalin, who participated in a film that won the 2025 Oscar.
"Illegal" Slovenia announces ban on imports of all Israeli settlement products
Federal funding freeze for the University of California, and a Stanford student newspaper sues the Trump administration.
Dozens of martyrs in Gaza, including aid seekers, and UN condemnation of Israeli attacks on schools.
The movement called for "an end to the war, the return of the kidnapped soldiers, the creation of an alternative to Hamas rule in the spirit of the Egyptian initiative, and the entry into a regional alliance, while preparing for the possibility of a second war with Iran."
Israel occupied the Gaza Strip between 1967 and 2005. Recently, it withdrew from indirect negotiations with Hamas in Doha, amid Tel Aviv's insistence on continuing the war and its refusal to withdraw from the Strip, which Hamas considers a prerequisite for the release of Israeli prisoners as part of a prisoner exchange deal.
Locally, Netanyahu faces a trial on corruption charges that could lead to imprisonment if convicted. The International Criminal Court also seeks his arrest on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The security cabinet is scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss the plan to occupy Gaza City and the central military bases, amid growing opposition within the security establishment.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, starving Palestinians. On March 2, it tightened its measures by closing the crossings to humanitarian, relief, and medical aid, causing a famine to spread to "catastrophic" levels.
The genocide, with American support, left 61,158 Palestinian martyrs and 151,442 wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 9,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and a famine that claimed the lives of many.
