Israeli army chief excluded from secret Netanyahu-Hegseth talks

Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported Tuesday that Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir was deliberately excluded from a previously unannounced meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held Monday at Ovda Airbase in southern Israel.

Secret talks at Ovda Airbase

Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Hegseth attended the unusual Monday session at the Israeli Air Force installation — the first such high-level encounter since the election campaign began — according to KAN. “Chief of Staff Zamir did not attend the unusual meeting held last night at an airbase in the south, nor was he summoned,” KAN said Tuesday, without explaining the exclusion.

The meeting took place eight days before Israel’s Oct. 27 elections and amid speculation that Washington and Tel Aviv are discussing the resumption of large-scale combat operations against Iran. Israeli media reported that the unannounced visit by the US defense secretary signaled urgent coordination on military options before the polls.

Military alert before vote

Zamir stated Tuesday that the Israeli military remained on high alert and ready ahead of next week’s elections, according to the broadcaster. The vote will pit Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition against opposition parties amid continued political divisions about the country’s future leadership.

Netanyahu has led the government since December 2022, heading a coalition widely described as the most right-wing in Israel’s history. The prime minister faces corruption, bribery and breach of trust charges in three domestic cases while remaining wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza war context

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu in 2024 over the Gaza offensive that has killed more than 74,000 victims since October 2023. The court’s pre-trial chamber found reasonable grounds to believe the prime minister bore criminal responsibility for using starvation as a weapon of war and directing attacks against civilians.

More than 74,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its genocidal war in October 2023, according to local health authorities. The conflict has displaced nearly the entire population of the territory and sparked widespread international condemnation of Israel’s military conduct.