If the Islamist group Hamas surrenders, lays down its arms immediately and releases the 138 Israeli hostages it has held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, the war in the Palestinian enclave could end right now.
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This was stated by Lior Haiat, spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a talk with journalists invited to the Hebrew country by the Fuente Latina organization, among which is EL TIEMPO, to learn about the impact of the conflict in the Middle East.
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“Hamas is a threat to regional stability and If we leave them in the Gaza Strip we will see that this type of terrorism will affect other countries in the region. “There is no way to end this war while Hamas is in power in the Strip,” he said.
The objectives of the war in Gaza, according to Israel
Haiat mentioned that the offensive in Gaza, which was unleashed after the attack by the Palestinian Islamist group on Israeli territory more than two months ago and in which 1,200 people died, most of them civilians, changed the history of the State of Israel and the entire their society.
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According to the spokesperson, Only in the attack by the militiamen at the Nova festival, an electronic music event attended by more than 3,500 people in the south of the country, 366 people were murderedamong them Colombian citizens Ivonne Rubio and Antonio Macías.
The attacks, their figures say, caused the displacement of at least 240,000 people due to the threat in the border areas. These people were transferred to hotels in areas considered safe such as Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, expenses that the State is currently responsible for.
Thus, Haiat assured that, with the current operation in Gaza, the Israeli Army seeks to No other terrorist organization has the capacity to attack the Hebrew country from the Palestinian enclave, which is why three specific objectives have been set in the conflict..
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The first – he says – is to eliminate the presence of Hamas, as well as its infrastructure in the area. According to Haiat, Gaza became a base for terrorism thanks to the fact that international aid funds were diverted into the hands of Hamas, instead of being directed towards creating a reality of peace for the 2.4 million Palestinians who today suffer poorly. in the enclave.
“International funds were converted into more than 800 kilometers of tunnels in the Gaza Strip. All for Hamas terrorists, not for civilians. Tens of thousands of rockets and missiles, and a terrorist infrastructure in every neighborhood, in every house, on every street in the Gaza Strip,” he says.
International funds were converted into more than 800 kilometers of tunnels in the Gaza Strip. All for Hamas terrorists, not for civilians.
Data shared with EL TIEMPO by Roni Kaplan, spokesperson for the Israeli Army, indicates that, In the 65 days of war, they have discovered at least 800 Hamas tunnel entrances in Gaza, of which they have neutralized at least 500.
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The second objective of the operation, according to Haiat, is to free all those kidnapped and maintain military pressure that allows the departure of more hostages who are in the Strip. In a truce between the parties negotiated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, which was broken on December 1, 105 hostages returned to Israel thanks to an agreement that also included the entry of unlimited humanitarian aid for the Gazans, as well as the release of Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel.
“Without military pressure, not on civil society (in Gaza) because the Hamas leaders do not care at all about the situation of civilians, but without military pressure on the Hamas terrorists we will not be able to free the others.” Haiat assured.
As a third objective, the spokesperson assured that Israel proposed to change the reality of the Strip in such a way that no terrorist organization will again take control of this enclave or be able to launch an attack like the one on October 7 again.
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“Changing the reality in the Gaza Strip is what will not allow another terrorist organization, be it Hamas or any other terrorist organization, to have the ability to attack the State of Israel or the citizens of Israel from the Gaza Strip. May the Strip not again be a base for terrorist attacks against Israel,” he assured.
However, Haiat says, There is a way to end the war now and that is for the Islamist group to surrender immediately.
“There is only one person responsible for what happened on October 7 and what is happening today in the Gaza Strip and that is the terrorist organization Hamas. It is responsible for the dead Israeli civilians and it is responsible for the dead Palestinians in Gaza. First, because they use them as human shields, they use hospitals, schools, churches, mosques, UN buildings, as infrastructure for their terrorist activities. And second, because there is a way to end the war today: If Hamas surrenders, lays down its weapons and releases all those kidnapped, the war will end right now,” he emphasized.
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The future of the Gaza Strip
Haiat also responded to doubts raised in the international community about what will happen in the Strip after the current conflict, which – according to Hamas figures – has left more than 18,000 dead and at least 1.9 million internally displaced, according to data from the ONU.
Although Israel left Gaza in 2005, in recent days the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, assured that The Hebrew country would be in charge of the security of the enclave indefinitely once the conflict ends. This Tuesday, in addition, the premier confirmed that he has differences with the United States, his main ally, about what will happen in the area after the end of Hamas..
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Washington has proposed that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) control the enclave, as it does with certain areas of the occupied West Bank. But, according to Haiat, the ANP is not the answer to the departure of the Palestinian militias.
“The ANP is the only place in the world where a murderer of Jews receives benefits for murdering Jews. We are not going to allow that type of group that educates its children and gives incentives to anti-Semitists to be the answer to Hamas terrorism. That is terrorism and the other thing too,” she added.
Will Israel return to power and control of Gaza?
According to Haiat, the authorities are not ruling out any option, although the spokesperson refused to detail the options that the Israeli government has on the table for the Palestinian enclave, where international organizations have denounced a humanitarian situation on the brink of collapse, considering that It is not a prudent time for this discussion.
“If we cannot guarantee that control of the Gaza Strip does not allow another terrorist organization to attack us, we are going to have to do it ourselves. Israel left the Gaza Strip 18 years ago with no goal of regaining control of it. We do not want to be there, we do not want to control the two million inhabitants, but we cannot let that reality happen again. We are not going to go back to October 6, it is a very clear message,” she emphasized.
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Haiat also assured that it is not the right time to investigate the security failures that allowed the militia attack on October 7, when asked about a report from The New York Times who denounced that, at least a year earlier, Israeli intelligence learned of a plan very similar to the one carried out in the kibbutzim in the south of the country that Saturday. The plan, says the cited newspaper, was discarded because it was considered that Hamas did not have the capacity to carry out an operation of such magnitude.
“After the war we will have time to investigate. I don't think it's the time to do it now. In general, Israel is very critical of itself, but in the situation we are in now, entering into these investigations does not help us at all. We have to end the war and then see what information we had or did not have or what decisions were made or not made,” she concluded.
Haiat was also emphatic that Israel will not give in to ending the military operation under the current conditions, despite the call from the same UN that this Tuesday hopes to approve a resolution in the Security Council to request a ceasefire, and noted that stopping the offensive at the current moment would lead the Hebrew country to “wait for the next massacre.”
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“October 6 was a ceasefire and whoever calls for ending the military operation now is in fact asking for a return to October 6, leaving Hamas in power of the Gaza Strip and with plans to repeat the October 7 massacre over and over again,” he assured.
Despite this, the pressure is becoming increasingly stronger on Israel. This Tuesday, the head of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, denounced that Gazans are living hell on earth, while ministers and delegates from the Arab and Muslim world called for a lasting ceasefire as the only alternative. to stop the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, caught in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
ANGIE NATALY RUIZ HURTADO
SPECIAL ENVENT
JERUSALEM
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