Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Middle East
Military officials fear a longer truce will weaken Israel’s efforts to eliminate Hamas
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said from Gaza on Sunday that Israel will do everything in its power to return prisoners and eliminate Hamas.
Netanyahu’s office announced that he visited the Gaza Strip today, where he inspected the forces deployed in the Strip.
Netanyahu’s office said on platform “X” that the prime minister received security checks, spoke with commanders and soldiers and entered one of the discovered tunnels.
“We have three goals for this war: eliminate Hamas, return all abducted people and ensure that Gaza will never pose a threat to Israel again,” Netanyahu said.
The statement did not specify where the Israeli prime minister visited in the Gaza Strip.
This comes on the third day of the “humanitarian truce” in the Gaza Strip, which came into force at 7am last Friday, after a military clash that has continued since 7 October.
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Israel is facing growing pressure to extend the truce period, which is so far scheduled for just four days as part of its war against Hamas, but military officials fear a longer truce will weaken Israeli efforts to eliminate the movement.
In total, Hamas handed over 26 Israeli prisoners, some of them of another nationality, to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday and Saturday, while Israel released 78 Palestinian prisoners. All those released are women and children.
In the last two days, Hamas has also released 15 non-Israeli foreigners, a measure that was not foreseen in the agreement.
The deal, brokered by Qatar and with the participation of the United States and Egypt, provides for the release of 50 prisoners held by Hamas in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners within four days of the extendable truce.
This would increase the number of prisoners repatriated by Hamas – and there is great internal pressure in Israel to do so – but it would give the movement a better chance to regroup, recover, rearm and return to the fight, according to analysts.
This agreement also increases diplomatic pressure on Israel from the international community, whose support for the renewed bombing of Gaza will decline with the resulting humanitarian crisis.
“Time is working against Israel, as always, and against the Israeli army,” Andreas Krieg, professor of defense studies at King’s College London, told AFP.
He points out that the longer the truce lasts, the more impatient the international community becomes with the continuation of the war.
However, the Israeli army is determined to achieve its goal of “eliminating” Hamas.
During a visit to Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant stressed that the timetable for the truce is “short,” explaining: “It won’t take weeks, to some extent it will take days.”
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“A Terrible Dilemma”
The war erupted after the sudden attack by Hamas, which killed around 1,200 Israelis, most of whom were civilians, most of whom died on the first day of the attack, according to Israeli authorities.
Since then, Israel has launched intense bombardment of the Gaza Strip, accompanied by extensive ground operations inside the Gaza Strip since 27 October. According to the Hamas government, the bombings killed around 15,000 people, including more than six thousand children.
Arik Rudnitzky, a researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle East and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, says: “The real pressure (to extend the truce) comes from within Israel, from the prisoners’ families.” .
An Israeli military official said Israel was committed to releasing as many prisoners as possible, but expressed concern that the longer the truce lasts, Hamas will have more time “to rebuild its capabilities and attack Israel again.”
“It’s a terrible dilemma,” he added in an interview with Agence France-Presse, requesting anonymity.
“Political will”
Qatar was the main mediator in negotiations to stop the fighting. His Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid Al-Ansari told AFP it was necessary to “maintain momentum” for a permanent ceasefire.
He added: “This can only be achieved when there is political will, not only from Israelis and Palestinians, but also from other partners working with us.”
US President Joe Biden confirmed on Friday that there are “real opportunities” to extend the four-day truce in Gaza, saying it is time to work to “revive” the two-state solution to establish peace between Israel and the Palestinians .
Andreas Craig, professor of defense studies at King’s College London, believes Washington is not prepared for an intensive operation that “continues for months without interruption”, especially as next year’s US presidential election approaches.
“So the Biden administration also has to find a way out,” he explains.
He added: “There is no military solution to this conflict. It cannot be won.”
For his part, Hamas official Taher al-Nono said the movement was “ready to seriously discuss new agreements.”
The release of the prisoners came on Saturday after an hours-long delay, which Hamas said was caused by Israel’s failure to comply with the terms of the agreement. But Israeli army spokesman Doron Spielman denied this, stressing that Hamas was adopting a “delay tactic” as part of “psychological warfare”.
Former Israeli intelligence official Avi Melamed told Agence France-Presse that Hamas “will procrastinate with the prisoners to try to exhaust this card for as long as possible and at the highest price that this could entail for Israel.”
He believes that Hamas hoped that support within Israel for the incursion into the Gaza Strip would dissipate and that “ultimately, international and domestic pressure on the Israeli government would create the conditions in which Hamas could continue to exist and govern Gaza even after the end of the conflict”. this war.”
Independent researcher on Middle East affairs, Eva Koulouriotis, is of the same opinion, explaining to Agence France-Presse: “For Hamas, any scenario of this war that does not lead to the end of its presence in the Gaza Strip will be considered a victory , regardless of the human and material losses, the extent of the destruction in Gaza and the extent of civilian casualties.”