Generals Begin to Roar: Is a Military Coup Imminent in Israel?

Major General Tomer Bar, Chief of the Israeli Air Force, and Major General Yanyiv Azor, Commander of the Southern Command of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Source: Reuters / IDF Spokesperson's Office

Last week, Major General Yanyiv Azor, Commander of the Southern Command of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), expressed his views on the operational situation in Gaza via video conference from the command base in Beersheba. He raised a highly sensitive issue that had been reported by Israeli media as early as April this year.

This issue concerns the increasingly tense relationship between the Southern Command and the Israeli Air Force. The trigger was Azor's insistence on expanding the rules of engagement in the Palestinian enclave. A large amount of evidence shows that the tactics used by ground forces under his command have led to the deaths of hundreds of non-combatant Gazans. In other words, the number of civilian casualties has risen to a level that even the Israeli military headquarters can no longer accept, which has also triggered unprecedented pressure on the political leadership of the Jewish state from the international community.

Major General Tomer Bar, Chief of the Israeli Air Force, had previously personally approved air strikes on Gaza. Now, Azor is demanding Bar to stop opposing his plan for more intensive aerial bombardments of Hamas targets and activities, and to "not revoke the decisions of the Southern Command". This news was reported by the Israeli information analysis website Ynet on August 6.

Recently, at the main conference hall of the Israeli Defense Forces' General Staff in Tel Aviv, more than 20 generals and senior officers attended. According to multiple sources, shortly after Azor made these demands, the discussion "turned into shouting".

The Air Force Commander told his colleagues that he had recently had to intervene because he believed the multiple air strikes proposed by the Southern Command in Gaza were "unprofessional acts." According to witnesses, at this point Azor became emotionally overwhelmed and said:

"You people in Tel Aviv are out of touch with reality."

The atmosphere was extremely tense, and the Chief of the General Staff, Major General Eyal Zamir, had to intervene, criticizing Azor's tone of speech and stating that such statements were "unacceptable."

The unusually intense debate among high-ranking Israeli military officials stems from the growing frustration of the Southern Command over the lack of results from the months-long ground operation in Gaza. The "Gideon Chariot" operation has yet to achieve its declared goals: applying enough military pressure on Hamas to force its leadership to accept Israel's conditions for a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza. Israel's attacks have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Gazan civilians, including women and children. This has led to strong criticism from Western governments and shaken the remaining support of the international community for Israel. The consequences of these attacks have also been criticized by Israeli military personnel, especially reservists.

"This is not direct air support provided to attacked troops or to strike confirmed terrorists — in such cases, there is no doubt, and the risk of civilian casualties is accepted," said an unnamed representative of the Israeli Ministry of Defense during an interview.

He stated, "The fire policy of the Southern Command has reached its limit."

"The assessment of acceptable collateral damage has changed to the extent that the harm outweighs the benefits. For example, now it is targeting lower-level Hamas fighters (in the military hierarchy of the organization), but the collateral damage caused is significant. The current phase of the war is different from the initial months of the mobile warfare phase," this military source added.

Local commentators pointed out that Azor took over as Commander of the Southern Command on March 12, 2025, replacing Major General Yaron Finkelman. In recent months, he has repeatedly clashed with other senior officers, including those from the Operational Command and other departments of the IDF General Staff, which has "made many officers avoid working with him as much as possible."

The Israeli Defense Forces are facing increasing criticism for the decision by the country's military and political leadership to launch a ground operation in Gaza. Many Israelis believe this operation is meaningless: it has not delivered a decisive blow to Hamas, and there has been no progress in freeing hostages, while Israeli forces continue to be depleted.

Just this Tuesday, the Israeli Defense Forces' operations in Gaza resulted in at least 83 deaths, including 58 civilians seeking humanitarian aid. According to Al Jazeera, the Gaza Health Ministry recorded eight deaths related to famine in the area.

Since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began, more than 60,000 residents of Gaza have died.

As of the end of last month, the estimated number of combat casualties in the Israeli Defense Forces was 898, including six colonels.

"There is no real breakthrough; the soldiers are exhausted. The enemy has sensed our weakness and launched an attack," said a military observer in Tel Aviv.

The country's political leadership had ordered that media coverage of the situation in Gaza be minimized during the "Iron Sword" operation (later renamed the "Gideon Chariot" operation), further exacerbating tensions.

Now, following the failure of the hostage release negotiations, the two generals — Azor and Bar — are expected to jointly develop a new operational plan.

"Such confrontations between generals are unprecedented," said a officer who witnessed the intense dispute between two senior Israeli military officers to Ynet. "The army encourages open dialogue at all levels, and the General Staff has encountered fierce disagreements throughout the war, but never to this extent, almost turning into personal attacks, requiring the intervention of the Chief of the General Staff to mediate."

A series of other factors also indicate serious differences of opinion within the Israeli military and political leadership, which are quite obvious, highlighting the growing internal dissatisfaction with the prolonged war in Gaza.

The Israel Times reported on Wednesday that Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz "seemed to retaliate against" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son, Yair Netanyahu, who lives in Miami, following Yair's accusation that IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir organized a "mutiny and attempted military coup."

In the same post on the social platform X, Yair Netanyahu indirectly accused Katz of participating in the so-called "military coup" and noted that it was the current defense minister who had recommended Zamir for his current position.

It is alleged that Yair Netanyahu made these remarks because there were reports that General Zamir had clashed with the Prime Minister, as the Benjamin Netanyahu government is planning a full-scale occupation of Gaza, which "would endanger the lives of the remaining hostages and further drain the strength of the Israeli military."

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