TV Report: Days After Oct. 7, Ofer Winter Warned Netanyahu Gaza Offensive Would Cost 15,000 Soldiers' Lives

Channel 12 reported Saturday, September 5, 2026 that Brig. Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter — the former Givati Brigade commander who has since launched the 'Amcha Yisrael' party for the October 27 election — warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the days after the October 7, 2023 attack that the IDF could not effectively carry out a ground offensive in Gaza, and that doing so would result in roughly 15,000 soldiers killed and thousands abducted. The network cited an unnamed former military official who accused Winter of spreading demoralizing assessments that contributed to delaying the offensive. Winter denied the report. The actual toll from the Gaza ground offensive was 473 IDF soldiers killed — far below Winter's reported forecast. The report surfaced as Winter has increasingly framed his political entry around October 7 accountability, arguing the government's three-year failure to establish a commission of inquiry disqualifies the current leadership from continuing unchanged.