When the war ends, Israel will control security in Gaza “indefinitely.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this in his first statements about what the famous day will look like after the “destruction” of Hamas, the goal that Israel has set for itself in its military campaign in which it has already reached “the heart” of the capital, as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant explained late in the day. The bombings and the land invasion have claimed more than 10,000 lives in a month – mostly minors and women – and caused a “forced displacement and a humanitarian tragedy of colossal proportions”, as the UN humanitarian agency defined it this Tuesday. Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
“I believe that Israel will have overall responsibility for security indefinitely because we have seen what happens when we don’t have it,” Netanyahu said in an interview with American broadcaster ABC. The sentence leaves the door open to several options. First, he speaks of “general responsibility,” which would be consistent with the presence of other forces in Gaza, such as the multinational force that the United States is considering in talks with its allies.
This is all the more true since Israel has made it clear that it has no intention of permanently reoccupying the Palestinian enclave, managing day-to-day operations or rebuilding settlements. That means reviving the regime he maintained between 1967, when he conquered it in the Six-Day War, and 2005, the year Ariel Sharon’s government unilaterally evacuated all soldiers and settlers from there . Israel considers that from this moment on it no longer bears responsibility for Gaza, although it continues to have legal obligations to its civilian population under international law while remaining an occupying power.
In this context, Netanyahu reiterated his rejection of a “general ceasefire” without the prior release of hostages, seeing this as oxygen for Hamas. Yes, he would accept “small tactical breaks,” he clarified: “An hour here, an hour there… we’ve had them before.” We will examine the circumstances to allow the entry of goods, humanitarian goods or the exit of individual hostages to make it possible.”
Israeli political and military leaders are saying these days that after the Hamas government and militia have been liquidated, the army must continue to be able to enter the Gaza Strip at will to carry out raids, targeted killings and arrests. The latest this Tuesday was Gallant, who pointed out in Parliament that the armed forces “will retain full freedom of action in any situation where there is any kind of threat from Gaza.”
Raids in the West Bank
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The statements outline a similar situation to that in the 18% of occupied West Bank territory, where the largest cities and therefore the majority of the population are located. This is the so-called Zone A, according to the terminology of the 1993 Oslo Accords. There, the Palestinian Authority (PNA) forces control security and coordinate with the Israeli forces, but the latter intervene when they deem it necessary . Every day for the past month – after the Hamas attack that killed around 1,400 people – they have made hundreds of arrests and killed more than 130 Palestinians, including through airstrikes like those at the time of the Second Intifada (2000-2000). 2005).
The entire Gaza Strip is technically Zone A, except that the ANP has not played a role there since 2007, when Hamas men gained the upper hand in a week of street clashes with Al Fatah (the rival faction led by Abbas) a year after the election victory won. Choose.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference on October 28 in Tel Aviv. POOL (via Portal)
Netanyahu cryptically asserted that the Gaza government would remain in the hands of those “who do not want to follow the path of Hamas,” without clarifying whether he was referring to the ANP. Last Sunday, its President Mahmoud Abbas appeared open to this possibility, as long as it was accompanied by the prospect of a peace agreement that would imply the creation of a Palestinian state. “We will fully fulfill our responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution that covers the entire West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip,” he said, according to the official Palestinian agency Wafa.
Long distances on foot
Meanwhile, the bombings do not stop: neither in the north nor in the south of Gaza, the area where Israel sends its residents and the only one where humanitarian aid from Egypt reaches. “There is no turning back, there is no rest. We are only moving forward,” Gallant said at a press conference in Tel Aviv. A message that Netanyahu expanded on shortly afterwards in a speech to the nation. “In Gaza we advanced with a force that Hamas did not know […] Gaza City is surrounded. We act within it and increase the pressure on Hamas. “We have eliminated thousands of terrorists above and below ground,” he said, referring to the underground tunnel network used by the militants. The army has also released images of soldiers in Gaza. In one of them you can see a Ferris wheel, which is located south of the capital.
It is estimated that around 300,000 Gazans still live in the north, the area hardest hit by the bombings that have left Gaza in ruins. Netanyahu sent them a message this Tuesday: “Go further south.” [de la Franja] Because we won’t stop.” And one more thing to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia with which the clashes have intensified in recent days: “If you decide on war, you will be making the mistake of your life.”
The roads leading to Saladin, the highway that runs vertically through Gaza, are so damaged that entire families (including children, the elderly and people with disabilities) are forced to travel long distances on foot with their belongings, such as highlighted in their recent report. the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and show the images from Gaza. This Tuesday, hundreds of Palestinians walked together, some with white flags and hands raised. OCHA estimates that a day earlier, another 5,000 people headed south during the six hours that Israel opened a “humanitarian corridor” that few dare take because there were bombings along the way and because the Israeli army was in both halves acted the strip. A day earlier there were 2,000. The Israeli army claims that Hamas is preventing the population from fleeing.
According to the United Nations, almost 45% of buildings across the Gaza Strip have been affected by these unprecedented attacks: more than 40,000 are directly destroyed or uninhabitable and another 220,000 are more or less severely damaged. Aerial photos show the destruction of entire parts of the city; and others, taken from vehicles or on foot, show rows of houses that have collapsed or lost their exterior walls.
The Palestinian militias captured more than 240 people in their attack on the 7th. According to Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezedin Al-Qasam Brigades, which holds most of them, the intense and constant Israeli bombings have already killed more than 60 people. Netanyahu, who is coming under increasing pressure on the street to secure their return within the framework of an agreement, stressed this Tuesday that the “military operation is part of the effort to return the hostages home”.
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