The letter, signed by about 1,000 Israeli current and retired reservists calling for an end to the bombardment in Gaza, is causing an uproar in Israel, Al Jazeera reports.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a harsh statement calling the signatories “an extremist fringe group that is trying again to break Israeli society from within”.

“This noisy fringe group is mobilised for one goal — to overthrow the government. It does not represent the fighters or the public. The [Israeli army] is fighting — and we are all behind it,” he said in a statement published by his office on X.

According to Israeli media, the letter does not call for a general refusal to serve, but urges Israeli officials to prioritise the release of captives rather than pursuing the bombardment in the Strip, which, they say, “serves mainly political and personal interests, not security interests”.