Israel values carrying its offensive in Gaza to a new phase after the collapse of indirect negotiations with Hamas, held in Doha, who sought to agree on a high temporal fire. As reported by the Reuters agency, this week has called the security cabinet to decide the next steps, in a context of increasing pressure by its ultra -nationalist partners. “The idea that he does not want to reach an agreement is being imposed,” an Israeli high position said on Sunday. “Therefore, the prime minister is pressing to free hostages through the military defeat of the group.”
The newspaper He states that “both in Israel and Washington it is understood that the terrorist organization does not want an agreement.” The security cabinet has not yet gathered, even after the publication of the horrible videos of the captivity of Evyatar David and Rom Breslavski, but officials in Tel Aviv clarified to this medium that Netanyahu is having conversations about the continuation of the war. “Luck is thrown,” says the medium, which says “advances towards the total occupation of the Gaza Strip and the defeat of Hamas.” But, at the same time, he says: “However, this may be part of a negotiation tactic to press Hamas.”
Channel 12 of Israeli television was another media to indicate that Netanyahu is inclined to “expand the operation and take control of the entire strip.” The proposal is not new, but has gained strength in recent days. In the government’s hard core, Ministers Bezalel Smotrich (Finance) and Itamar Ben-Gvir (National Security) demand annexing territories and imposing a direct military administration, with the ultimate goal of reactivating the settlements evacuated in 2005.
In front of the political impetus, the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) maintains a more cautious position. Two senior defense positions have confirmed that the Army will present this week a range of options that include incursions in areas of Gaza where it has not yet been deployed. The military dome is suspicious of an extension without defined objectives and fears that an offensive without restrictions endanger the 20 hostages that continue alive.
According to the Israeli military radio, the Chief of the General Staff, Eyal Zamir, has expressed in private his frustration for the “lack of strategic clarity” of the government. Their relatives fear that the absence of a political plan leads the country to a wear warless warning war. “We have different ways to combat this terrorist organization, and that is what the army will do,” said IDF spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Nada Shoshani, without revealing details.
The new phase is charged dozens of lives
Also according to Reuters data, at least 40 Palestinians died Monday for bombing and shots of the Israeli army in Gaza, including ten who tried to access aid distribution centers. Five other died by the framework of what humanitarian agencies already describe as an incipient famine.
The ten deceased were near delivery points managed by the Foundation, backed by the United States, in the center and south of the enclave, according to local medical sources. The UN says that since GHF began operating in May, more than 1,000 people have died while trying to get humanitarian aid, mostly for gunfire of Israeli soldiers stationed near their facilities.
In the Hospital Al Shifa of Ciudad de Gaza, dozens of people collected on Monday the bodies of the deceased. “Everyone who is going for help returns with a meal bag or on a stretcher, dead or injured. No one returns healthy,” said Bilal Thari, 40. On Sunday, another 13 Palestinians died while waiting for the arrival of United Nations help trucks in the passage of Zikim, in the north of the Strip, according to local health authorities.
Supply scarcity also affects funeral rituals: in many cases the bodies are wrapped in blankets because there are no white, traditional shrouds in Islamic burials, due to the border restrictions imposed by Israel and the growing number of daily deaths.
Israel denies its direct involvement in Monday’s shots and ensures facilitating access to help. According to the Cogat Military Office, in the last week more than 23,000 tons of food and essential products have entered Gaza in 1,200 trucks. However, hundreds of these vehicles have not reached the distribution points managed by the UN. In parallel, several countries have launched packages with help from the air in coordination with the Israeli army.
Despite the partial relief in the restrictions since the end of July, the United Nations insists that the help it enters is still insufficient. According to UN calculations and Palestinian responsible, the enclave needs at least 600 daily trucks to meet the basic needs of the population, a figure that coincides with the prior entry to the war. Witnesses and local sources have denounced truck looting by desperate displaced and armed groups.
The diplomatic route, in Point
The visit of the American emissary Steve Witkoff last Saturday generated expectations that have barely lasted 48 hours. The plan that defended contemplated a 60 -day truce, with entry of humanitarian aid and staggered hostage liberation in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. After meeting with Netanyahu, Witkoff said that there was “a principle of understanding” to move towards an integral agreement that included three key conditions for Israel: release of all hostages, disarmament of Hamas and complete demilitarization of Gaza.
But on Sunday night, a senior Israeli official settled any immediate possibility: “The effort no longer makes sense,” he said. The collapse of the negotiations returns the initiative to the military, although without completely discarding future diplomatic routes.
This Tuesday, Qatar and Egypt supported a joint statement of Saudi France and Arabia that advocates a solution of two states and demands Hamas to deliver weapons to the Palestinian National Authority. The Islamist organization has repeatedly rejected that option. However, three of its leaders assured Reuters that they would be willing to abandon power in Gaza if a “non -partisan government body” is created, provided that the new framework is agreed between Palestinians and not imposed from the outside.
The Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, acknowledged Monday that the positions are still remote. “We want to recover all our hostages. We want this war to end. We always prefer a diplomatic route, if possible. But, of course, the great issue is: what will be the conditions for that to happen?” He declared in Jerusalem.
While diplomacy is diluted and operations on the ground continue, the number of victims does not stop growing. Since October 7, when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages in southern Israel, the Israeli offensive has ended the lives of more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to data from the Ministry of Health of Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Of the 50 hostages that still remain in the enclave, Israel estimates that only 20 are still alive.
