The Wounded Warriors Forum, a group of IDF soldiers injured post-Oct. 7, 2023, posted an open letter to social media on Sunday addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of his trip to Washington, D.C., urging him to continue the war against the terror group Hamas until “absolute victory.”
“As soldiers injured in the war, we turn to you, Mr. Prime Minister, on the eve of your trip to the United States: Absolute victory in Gaza is not an option—it’s a necessity,” the group posted on Facebook.
In the letter, the group said its members marched through tunnels, saved friends under fire, and searched for hostages in complicated operations, in which they were “wounded in body and spirit.”
“We paid a price for the state and the country: And therefore we say, we were wounded in order to win,” the letter stated.
The group leveled criticism at the way the war has been conducted, with the IDF abandoning positions only to return to them later “at a great cost in blood.”
Any deal that returns Hamas to power, or gives it “breathing room” to recover, is a “betrayal of the blood that has been spilled,” the letter said.
The group also said that no Gazans should return to their homes as “everyone was a partner in murder, looting and terror.”
“Don’t bring promises, bring victory,” said the group in its appeal to the prime minister. “There won’t be a second chance. We and the nation stand behind you.”
The Wounded Warriors Forum said its membership includes hundreds of fighters who were casualties in the conflict following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught on southern Israel.
The group advocates for a decisive victory in the Gaza Strip, and not another round of fighting as in the past, in which Hamas manages to survive to fight another day.
“We call for a profound change in the methods of warfare until strategic goals are achieved: the occupation of the Gaza Strip, the overthrow of the Hamas regime, and the guarantee of long-term security for the State of Israel,” the group said on the fundraising site, Givechak.
