The reasons that lead Israel to continue its offensive in Gaza despite pressure from the international community

This, despite the fact that on Friday the United States disclosed the outlines of what is a proposed ceasefire from Israel towards Hamas that would be developed in three stages that would include a temporary truce, handover of hostages and a plan to reconstruct the Stripe.

Hamas made it known that it viewed the proposal “positively,” but if a definitive ceasefire was applied, while Israel warned that it would only allow a temporary cessation of hostilities because its fundamental objective has not changed: the military and political annihilation of the Islamist movement..

“Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed (…). The idea that Israel accepts a permanent ceasefire before these conditions are met does not make any sense,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday, somewhat departing from the plan presented by Washington.

Despite the nuances on both sides, the proposal has generated great expectations, although the two far-right ministers of the Israeli Government, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, threatened this Saturday to overthrow the Executive if it accepts the truce plan with Hamas announced Friday by the United States. Meanwhile, relatives of hostages in Gaza demand that the Israeli government approve the plan presented by Biden.
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(Keep reading: Israel: far-right ministers threaten to overthrow Netanyahu’s government if it accepts a truce with Hamas).

By the way, MSF warns about a bleak outlook for what is happening in the south of the Palestinian enclave, which is why they demand an “immediate end to the offensive.” “The civilian population is being massacred. “They are being pushed into areas they were told would be safe only to be subjected to incessant airstrikes and heavy ground attacks,” he said. Chris Lockyearsecretary general of MSF, insisting that “entire families, made up of dozens of people, are crowded into tents and live in extremely difficult conditions.”

Several countries and international actors also joined the organization and increased the pressure on the Israelis. The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, said that such operations “must cease.” For his part, the head of foreign policy of the European Union, Josep Borrel, He claimed to be “horrified” by the news and then said that if countries do not comply with the mandates of the ICJ they will stop going to it. The ONUFor its part, it called for a thorough investigation of what happened.

While Israel’s closest ally, the United States, warned that measures must be taken to guarantee the lives of civilians, according to statements from Robert WoodAmerican representative to the United Nations.

Additionally, an investigation by The New York Times found that the bombs used by Israel that killed dozens of people in Rafah were American-made. And although the White House shortly after these findings considered that the “red lines” marked by President Joe Biden have not yet been crossed, the American tone seems to be changing little by little.

Although Israel claims that it has managed to evacuate approximately one million civilians to the humanitarian zone since it be
gan its military operation in Rafah On May 6, the operations have intensified with thousands of civilians in the middle who seem not to be safe even in the areas designated as humanitarian protection when the Israeli offensive has so far left more than 36,000 dead in Gazamostly civilians.

And although Netanyahu described what happened as a “tragic mishap” and stressed that he is carrying out an investigation to determine what happened, recognizing that the target was militants from the Islamist group, his government also announced that the offensive in Gaza will continue, at least, until the end. of year.

In Israel they have a very different interpretation of the Court’s mandate. For Alan Bakerformer legal advisor to the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Israeli ambassador to Canada, the ICJ “did not say that we must immediately stop the operation in Rafah but that we must be careful not to cause harm to innocent people, as that could be considered a act of genocide,” he assures EL TIEMPO, clarifying that what is happening “is a wrong interpretation of the ICJ decision.”

1. However, the most recent attack in southern Gaza was taken by much of the world as a “rebellious” way for Israel to turn a deaf ear to the ICJ. It was not enough for the Israeli army to promise to investigate while maintaining the hypothesis that it was the same weapons and rockets that Hamas kept very close there that triggered the fire that ended the lives of civilians, for the turbulence in international arenas to calm down. .

“First of all, there are still kidnapped people in the hands of
Hamas, which seems unwilling to release them. Furthermore, on October 7, 2023, it became clear that Israel cannot continue living and raising its children here, while on the other side of the fence, just a few meters away, not at a distance like that between the United States and Mosul in Iraq, there is a threat like the one posed by Hamas,” he emphasizes.

In that sense, Sharon is emphatic in pointing out that “Israel must put an end to this threat, especially after having verified what atrocities they are capable of.” “This is a threat that Israel cannot under any circumstances coexist with and, therefore, must neutralize Hamas’s military capacity, even if it takes ten years to do so.”

From the perspective of General (retired) Giora Eiland, a military strategy analyst who headed years ago andhe National Security Council of Israel, The ICJ’s decision “did not give us a red card but a yellow card so, for now, we can continue fighting.” And for Eiland, Rafah has a special importance for Israel due to the border crossing it represents.

“We must understand that the important thing about this operation is not the city of Rafah itself, but the border between Israel and Egypt. And now we see clearly that one of the reasons why Egypt warned so nervously against the operation was that it knew that we would find dozens of tunnels there that connect Egypt and Gaza, tunnels through which weapons supplies to Hamas entered for years. warns.

The writer and columnist Ben Dror Yemeni It’s much more direct. According to opinion, it is clear that for Israel what its closest partners, such as the United States, say is more important than the rest of the international community. Even in the Arab world itself, the Israelis would be betting on continuing to promote a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia whose announcement would have been stopped after the attacks of October 7.

“Today the main path in terms of international diplomacy passes in front of the United States and Saudi Arabia. The search for a defense pact between them that includes normalization of relations with the Saudis. If Netanyahu loses that option, it would be much more significant even than the issue of recognition of a Palestinian state by countries that have no influence in the region,” said Dror Yemeni.

For now, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, He stated this Friday that Israel proposed a new and “comprehensive” ceasefire agreement in Gaza, which includes the withdrawal of its forces from the Palestinian territory for six weeks.nas and the release of all the hostages.

However, the Israeli plans will not end there until they completely eliminate Hamas, as they have said repeatedly. Even Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, appeared to reject the idea of ​​a quick end to the war in Gaza on Wednesday, although it was unclear what the intensity of the campaign would be. As things stand, two questions remain on the table: what will happen to the Palestinian enclave after the war and how long will Israel hold up to international pressure?