The Israeli power leadership is divided over the status of the Gaza Strip after the war, at a time when the Executive claims it is fighting a “decisive battle” to destroy the Palestinian Hamas movement.
But the fact that, after more than seven months of war, Hamas fighters have regrouped in northern Gaza, where Israel had claimed the group had been neutralized, caused dissension within the Israeli war cabinet.
On Saturday, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahuwas harshly criticized by the minister Benny Gantza member of the war cabinet, who threatened to resign if the president does not approve a plan for the post-war Gaza Strip.
The prime minister’s outright rejection of the establishment of a Palestinian government in Gaza after the conflict opened a wedge between politicians and undermined relations with USAIsrael’s main ally.
Some experts point out that this lack of clarity will only benefit Hamas, whose leader insists that it is essential that his movement be involved in any future government of the territory.
“Without an alternative to fill the void, Hamas will continue to grow,” said analyst Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group, speaking to AFP.
“If Hamas is left alone in Gaza, of course (its militiamen) will appear here and there and the Israeli army will be forced to chase them everywhere,” Navon said. “Either an Israeli military government or an Arab-led government is established,” he says.
US pressure
Three days earlier, Gallant had urged Netanyahu “to make a decision and declare that Israel will not establish civilian control in the Gaza Strip.”
Other senior officials, such as the head of the army, Herzi Halevi, and leaders of the intelligence services, the Shin Bet, have also criticized Netanyahu’s war plans, according to the Israeli press.
In addition, Washington proposed that a kind of “reformed” Palestinian Authority rule in Gaza after the war, something Netanyahu has flatly rejected.
Instead, the president clings to his firm goal of “eliminating” Hamas, ensuring that “there is no alternative to military victory.”
But experts warn that trust in Netanyahu is waning.
“With Gallant’s criticism of Netanyahu’s failure to plan for the day after in terms of governing in Gaza, some real cracks are beginning to appear in the Israeli war cabinet,” Colin P. Clarke noted on the social network X. , director of policy and research at the Soufan Group think tank.
Steady negotiations
More than 250 people were captured and 125 remain hostage in Gaza, of whom 37 are believed to have died, according to the army.
So far 35,386 Palestinians, mainly civilians, especially women, adolescents and children, have died in the vast retaliatory offensive launched by Israel, according to data from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Ministry of Health.
But now, there is increasingly less hope that the hostages will return and patience with Netanyahu could be running out, according to observers.
After Israeli forces entered the city of Rafah, in the south of the Strip, where more than a million Gazans took refuge, negotiations mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to achieve the release of the hostages fell into disrepair. broken.
“The hostage agreement is in total stalemate: it can no longer give the impression that progress is being made,” said Zonszein of the International Crisis Group.
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