Rifts appear to be emerging among top Israeli representatives over the handling of the war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

A member of Israel’s War Cabinet has cast doubt over the strategy for releasing hostages, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the United States’ calls to scale back its retaliatory offensive.

One of the four members of Israel’s War Cabinet, former army chief Gadi Eisenkot, said late Thursday that only a cease-fire deal can win the release of dozens of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since the devastating terror attacks on Isreal October 7th.

He also dismissed claims that hostages could be freed by other means as “illusions.”

It was Eisenkot’s first public statements on the issue, and the latest sign of a growing rift among political and military leaders over the direction of Israel’s retaliation.