How does Israel respond to Gaza ceasefire talks?, The Israeli military has carried out an operation against the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, a supposed safe zone in the southern Gaza Strip, which has left 90 people dead and 300 wounded. There have been eight UN-run schools that have been hit by Israel’s military in the last 10 days, according to reports.
As a result of ongoing ceasefire talks in Doha as well as Cairo, Israel’s attacks on Gaza have intensified recently. In reports coming out of the talks, signs were appearing that a truce was on the horizon, and that Israeli captives held in Gaza prior to Saturday’s attacks might be returned.
In May, talks between Arab mediators and the United States were initiated, however, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is responsible for Israeli policy, has been very staunch in his opposition to the talks. As reported on Sunday, Hamas denied the reports that it was withdrawing from the ceasefire talks because of the attack on al-Mawasi. However, Izzat al-Reshiq, a member of Hamas’ poltburo, said Israel was trying to derail a ceasefire by intensifying attacks on the Gaza Strip in an attempt to avoid a ceasefire.
In fact, the Israeli government has escalated the war numerous times when there have been advanced talks for the end of the conflict, according to analysts. According to the report, Israel deploys this tactic regularly as part of its efforts to apply pressure on its adversaries, and the government does so with impunity as a result of the United States’ overwhelming support.
The intensity of Israeli strikes against Palestinians is always stepped up in the lead-up to ceasefires in the months preceding them, according to Tariq Kenney-Shawa, an Al Shabaka policy fellow and a member of the Palestinian policy network, Al Shabaka. “In their view, it is a way for them to increase pressure on the opposing side, in this case Hamas, in order to get them to accede to their demands and make further concessions to their demand.”
Calculations made by Netanyahu
As a ceasefire appeared to be close to being reached in late May, Israel deployed tanks into Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, violating a treaty with Egypt. In November, just a couple of weeks before the halt in the fighting on the northern Gaza Strip was to take effect, when a temporary truce had been negotiated, Israel intensified its attacks on the northern Gaza Strip, killing scores of people and executing air raids on Khan Younis and Rafah just before the ceasefire was to take effect.
Israel has seen months of protests against Netanyahu’s far-right coalition government, calling for the release of the captives and his resignation. In addition to escalating war to serve his own interests, analysts say Netanyahu is perpetuating it.
As Kenney-Shawa pointed out in his statement, Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted that he does not want the war to end, “both for the reason that Israel has not been able to achieve its stated objectives, except for the complete destruction of Gaza, and for political reasons.”
The Israeli prime minister has been accused by critics and analysts of fearing the end of the war because it will cause his far-right government to collapse as a result.
There are no signs that Netanyahu intends to stop the genocidal war at this time, according to Dr Ihab Maharmeh, an analyst at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha, who said there is no indication he intends to do so anytime soon. As far as I can tell, he appears to be more concerned with maintaining his power and supporting the far-right elements of his government than anything else.”
It is worth noting that US President Joe Biden’s administration has shipped billions of dollars worth of weapons to Israel since October of this year. It is important to keep in mind that Washington is also providing $3.3 billion per year in aid to the country. The Vice President of the US, Joe Biden, has sent Israel weapons, despite the human toll of the war, with the exception of briefly withholding 225kg (500lb) bombs over the Israeli offensive in Rafah.
Behavior patterns in the workplace
It is not unique to the current crisis that hostilities have escalated at the same time as progress has been made in ceasefire talks. Several analysts have stated that Israel has demonstrated this pattern of behavior for decades now, and this is not an isolated case.
There have also been instances in history in which Israel has launched attacks or dropped munitions when a ceasefire was imminent or when one had already been agreed to before the attacks took place.
During ceasefire talks, Israeli forces intensified their efforts, for a number of reasons as Mohsen Saleh, the director of al-Zaytouna Center for Studies and Consultations in Beirut, explained. According to him, the Israeli entity is above all laws and is not held accountable because of its global alliances with the west and with the US and as a result, it does not face any legal consequences.
There was a possibility that Tanzim, a militia close to Fatah, the party that governs the occupied West Bank, would announce a unilateral ceasefire before an Israeli bomb was dropped on a Hamas leader’s home in Gaza City during the second Intifada in 2002.
During the closing days of the 34-day war, Israel dropped between 2.6 million and 4 million munitions in southern Lebanon as a ceasefire with Hezbollah approached. By making the land along Lebanon’s border with Israel uninhabitable, experts said, they were creating a buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
It has been reported that [Israeli forces] emptied most of their reserves of submunitions, including some that dated back to the 1970s, said Nadim Houry, the executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative who was leading Human Rights Watch’s Beirut office at the time. As soon as the war ended, everyone knew it was over. There had actually been an agreement on the final date between them.”
Just two days after Palestinian factions announced a truce, Israel killed a Hamas leader, suspected of being involved in the 2012 assassination. At least six Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks during a week that saw a week of violence in which at least six Palestinians were killed.
There were a number of displaced Palestinians returning home from Gaza during the 2014 war on Gaza when Israel and Hamas staged a firefight following the announcement of a ceasefire, resulting in some of those displaced Palestinians being killed. Earlier this year, Israel invoked the Hannibal Directive, which is a protocol aimed at preventing Israeli captives from being transported alive into enemy territory – no matter what the cost may be. According to a report that was released by Human Rights Watch and Forensic Architecture, at least 16 Palestinian civilians are believed to have been killed. As a result of the Israeli government’s use of the directive, many civilians have been killed as a result of Israel’s use of the directive.
Despite a number of senior Israeli military sources telling Israeli media that the Hannibal Directive can be used in the event of an armed conflict, Israeli officials have denied the existence of the directive.
Instances of escalation
How does the current escalation of violence contribute to the present ceasefire negotiations in light of the current escalation?
There are some analysts who believe a permanent ceasefire will be nearly impossible to achieve as long as Israel, under Prime Minister Netanyahu, is committed to continuing fighting and the United States is still supporting Israel militarily and diplomatically.
When Netanyahu began his assault on Gaza several weeks ago, he promised to defeat Hamas as soon as possible. While he refuses to accept cease-fire proposals, he has promised to continue fighting until his group remains standing as long as the group survives. The Israeli prime minister recently argued that the weekend assault on al-Mawasi that left 90 people dead would serve as a clear warning to Hamas that its days are numbered.
Despite the fact that Israeli military forces have destroyed most of Gaza, eradicating Hamas has proved to be impossible. It was just a few weeks ago that Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, appeared to contradict Prime Minister Netanyahu’s statements.
In Hagari’s words, “This business of dismantling Hamas and making Hamas disappear is just a waste of time and energy and is nothing more than a sand in the eyes of the public,” according to an Israeli television station. There is no such thing as a Hamas organisation. As far as Hamas is concerned, it is a political party. People are deeply rooted in it, and it is in their hearts. Hamas cannot be eliminated by us; anyone who thinks otherwise is mistaken.
Kenney-Shawa believes that Netanyahu could be thinking in terms of an undefined end goal, allowing him to continue the war for as long as he sees fit as long as he feels comfortable with that approach.
“Netanyahu will either force Hamas to agree to a temporary ceasefire that will allow for the return of some or all hostages, after which Israeli forces will resume brutally attacking them,” Kenney-Shawa said, “or he will simply carry on a war that will stop and start while ceasefire negotiations continue as long as Washington continues to provide Israel with a blank check and green light.”
Timenews1 provided that information.
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