For more than two months, Israel has been bombarding Gaza massively by land, sea and air (at a pace unprecedented since World War II), reducing much of it to rubble and killing nearly 20,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women, and more more thousands more estimated among the rubble and could not yet be counted as corpses. They were the first two phases of the goal set on October 7: to “completely eradicate” Hamas, both politically (it has ruled there since 2007) and militarily due to the surprise attack in which it killed 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 200.
The United States has financed, armed and diplomatically shielded the campaign – with its veto in the UN Security Council – but is already pressuring Israel to move soon to a “third phase” that would cause fewer casualties and reduce international pressure. This Monday in Tel Aviv, his Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant “how to make the transition from high-intensity operations to low-intensity and more surgical operations,” as he explained at a conference. Joint press.
After last week's public conflict between United States President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Austin didn't want to sound like an older brother. “This is Israel’s operation. “I am not here to dictate deadlines or terms,” he clarified, before alluding to conversations with Gallant about “how to reduce the number of civilian deaths” and the “status and objectives” of the war. He also called for “urgent action” to stabilize the West Bank (where an average of three Palestinians die every day from shelling by the Israeli army or settlers since the start of the war) and stressed that “both Israelis and Palestinians deserve a horizon of peace.” “, which is based on the two-state solution. “We know how difficult it is, especially after October 7, but the continued instability and insecurity only benefits Hamas,” he added, on his second visit to the country since that date.
The two allies are seeking consensus to change the phase in January. Israel is also losing more and more soldiers as close combat increases and not only massive bombing from a distance and fire from armored vehicles reduce the risk of its own losses. Israel announced this Monday that another five people had died in the fighting, bringing the toll to 129. The number has increased in recent days.
At the news conference, Gallant said the war “takes time” but suggested to Austin that he would fulfill the tacit pact to fully control the northern Gaza Strip next month. “I can tell you that we will soon be able to distinguish between different areas of Gaza,” which would open the door to the gradual return of displaced Palestinians (85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents), “perhaps sooner in.” the north.” Since there are few habitable houses there, some will likely end up in makeshift shelters or tents. The United Nations estimates that about 60% of Gaza's buildings are damaged or destroyed by bombing, particularly in the north.
It is estimated that nearly a million residents in the north (almost all) have been forcibly evicted from their homes since October on the orders of the Israeli Defense Forces. Today they live in cramped conditions in the south, where Israel is centered and where water and food are scarce, as demonstrated by the attack on a humanitarian aid truck in Rafah this Sunday and the emergence of a black market. The American human rights organization Human Rights Watch accused the Netanyahu government on Monday of “deliberately” using hunger as a weapon of war against the civilian population in Gaza. The strip also suffered a five-day telecommunications outage, the longest of the war.
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Second exchange
Washington didn't just send Austin to Tel Aviv this Monday. Also to the Director of the CIA, William Burns, to Warsaw to broker a second hostage exchange in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners. He met with the Prime Minister of Qatar, Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani (the main mediator); and with the head of the Mossad (Israel's intelligence services abroad), David Barnea.
Dialogue has regained momentum after Israeli soldiers accidentally killed three of their compatriots as hostages, despite waving a white flag, wearing no shirts – to show they were unarmed – and hanging messages in Hebrew on two windows (which They managed to prepare leftover food) asking for help and drawing attention to their presence. The military interpreted it as a Hamas trap. The only Israeli hostage who survived the first attack fled to another building and shouted at the soldiers in Hebrew. They also thought it was a trap. He was shot while walking down the stairs.
An unidentified Israeli political leader, quoted by national television channel 12, pointed to the need to present a proposal “that breaks the impasse” that negotiations found themselves in after December 1, as the first and only exchange of hostages and prisoners of war, during which there was a week-long ceasefire and an increase in the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza from Egypt.
With the army already operating intensively in both the north and south of the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu ordered Barnea to withdraw from the negotiating table, deeming it impossible to converge the positions. Now the tone has changed. “If we want to put a new proposal on the table, it has to be something that attracts attention [Yahia] Sinwar”, [el líder de Hamás en Gaza]. It must be a creative proposal in terms of the equation of what Israel demands and what it is willing to give in return,” the leader added anonymously.
The previous exchange involved only women and minors, both among the 80 Israeli hostages and the 240 Palestinian prisoners, a significantly lower proportion than in previous exchanges. During the week of the ceasefire, Israel detained more Palestinians than released them.
Now Hamas – considered a terrorist by the United States and the European Union – wants to determine the names of prisoners to be released and increase the price per hostage. A partial withdrawal of Israeli troops is also planned, according to sources in the security forces of Egypt, the third mediating country, according to the Portal agency.
Israel appears poised to add prisoners whose release would be harder for its far-right coalition partners to digest. They are those “with blood on their hands”: convicted of murder or of participating in the planning of attacks. In addition, the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza was opened on Sunday to allow humanitarian aid to flow more smoothly. It was one of the demands of Qatar and Egypt because the Rafah border crossing – which was intended for people and not goods – was not up to the task.
In the previous exchange, most of those released had not been brought to trial and were serving mostly minor offenses, such as throwing stones or Molotov cocktails at soldiers and settlers, or vague offenses, such as “endangering the security of the area” or “glorifying nationalist ones.” Protesters.” Several dozen were serving prison sentences for attempted murder.
Genesis? Ribbon? Netanyahu is looking for a name for the war
An Israeli soldier plays the violin in an armored vehicle near the Gaza border this Monday. Leo Correa (AP)
A few hours after the Hamas attack on October 7, when Israel was still trying to rebuild itself and did not fully control its territory (it took several days), the Netanyahu government began bombing Gaza and, as usual, gave up the offensive Name: Iron Swords.
Two and a half months later, Netanyahu is looking for a name that matches the historical relevance of the war, according to local media. Their main argument is that Iron Swords is just the operation (like others Israel launched in Gaza that lasted several days), not the war. “He wants a name that is understood both nationally and internationally and can remind people of the war as a significant war and not just an operation,” sources close to the prime minister told the Walla information portal.
According to public television, Netanyahu floated three options at the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers on Sunday. Two are religious in nature and relate to the beginning of the battle. One of these is the Simhat Torah War, the holiday in the Jewish calendar linked to the end of Sukkot, the date Hamas chose for its attack. Simhat Torah begins in Judaism with the annual Bible reading cycle, which explains the second option: War of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. According to the television channel, Netanyahu expects this would resonate both at home and with Christian audiences abroad. For example, the evangelical movement, which places great emphasis on reading sacred texts, is an ardent supporter of Israel in general and Netanyahu in particular. And Genesis belongs to both traditions, as it opens both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament.
A third option would be the Gaza war. It is an election similar to the two elections in Lebanon, which began as an operation (Peace for Galilee in 1982 and Just Reward in 2006) to eventually adopt the name of the territory.
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